Smith argues it is the wisdom of nature that we cannot fully compensate ourselves internally for unjust external blame, because if we could fully self-compensate we would not take the extra care to ensure nothing bad happens for which we would be blamed—so the inability to fully console ourselves keeps people vigilant.
causalpending
Speaker
Dan KleinEvidence Quote
“if they could sort of fully compensate themselves, they wouldn't take all that extra care to make sure that uh nothing bad happens that that they would get the external blame for.”
Source
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 4--A Discussion of Part III 04/29/2009— EconTalkCreated: 6/15/2026, 9:36:51 AM
My Notes
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