Social Responsibilities and Laissez Faire

One of the leading tenets of eighteenth-century thought was that the pursuit of self-interest by individuals is not always or necessarily antisocial. This is a principle of the first order of importance one sometimes neglected in ethical thought. Because ethical problems frequently arise when individual and social interests are in conflict, the assumption is often made that ethical conduct invariably requires suppression of self-interest or sacrifice by the individual. This notion is, of course, false. Throughout great areas of life, self-interest (or, at least, intelligent and far-sighted self-interest) is, or can be made to be, consistent with the social interest.