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nizing and feeling the pains and pleasures of others. Sympathy is the main spring of our moral nature, for we are each able to approve or abhor the conduct of some — including ourselves — toward others. We are, in fact, capable of taking the position of an impartial spectator as observers of moral conduct about us, on the basis of which we form moral tastes that direct our own conduct and that of those whom we influence. A happy, prosperous society is one in which beneficence for others has led to a 'contagion' of happiness, as one person's happiness enlivens sympathy, fellow-feeling, and beneficence in others. (5) Even economic activity originates in, and endures through, a spirit of cooperation among members of a community. Smith emphasizes that, whereas many other animals become independent upon reaching maturity, every human 'has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren . . . .' (6) From this observation, we may infer that business — no matter how self-seeking its participants might be — is at heart a cooperative activity. This is true in traditional communities, in which people take up specialized tasks due to their facility for them, and in modern communities, in which people are given tasks integrative of production for which talent has been rendered moot by the simplification of labor. We have reason to believe, however, that, in our age workers would gain greater satisfaction and work better were their opportunities to engage their talents fully in association with others greater. (7)

Although we are moral creatures due to sympathy, we are also self-interested creatures who will act against our moral beliefs when the advantage is great enough to tempt us. For Smith, we live lives finely balanced between fellow-feeling and self-interest. It is often quite hard for us to decide with certainty which side we should take in particular cases. Smith's moral thought presents the dilemma of a member of a market society: Ought I to forgo a success for which I have planned and struggled for the sake of an individual act of moral goodness? Or ought I to achieve the success, the better to act as a beneficent and caring member of my community for a long time to come? There are some who find Smith's compartmentalization of business and other private activities troublesome, for he seems to present a double-standard or a contradiction within life. This is a sound observation about Smith, but it is a familiar enough difficulty faced by many business people from Smith's time to our own. (8) We ought to be grateful, at least, that the dilemma persists in many people's minds.

Economic activity is self-interested almost by definition. Many modern exponents of Smith mistakenly make self-interest the sole driving force of human nature. I want to suggest that, not even in economic activity, is sympathy fully absent. True, those engaged in an endeavor might hold their own profits to be their reason for involvement. Nonetheless, sympathy is active here if only implicitly. When people enter the market, they seek their advantage there. They do this by attempting to discern the needs and desires they can satisfy for others in the marketplace. This, I propose, is the secret of the 'invisible hand.' Although business is carried on due to self-interest, it is successful because business people are heedful of the others in the market; it is a tacit cooperation of each providing for others. Many, making decisions throug