Adam Smith uses the phrase "invisible hand" in Theory of Moral Sentiments IV.i.10 and Wealth of Nations IV.2.9. Keith Rankin points out What Adam Smith Really Said about the invisible hand. It's good to see an argument like this; one tends to forget how focused Smith was on national good -- the book, after all, is called The Wealth of Nations. Also, as a commenter noted in response to it at Stealth Badger, Smith was primarily a moral philosopher, and presumed that sympathy and moral sense would be part of what contributes to making something part of one's self-interest. We also tend to forget that Smith himself recognizes most of the problems with capitalism that others have and recognizes them as problems -- one of the reasons why he puts such emphasis on the importance of public education, for instance, is to compensate for these failings (Smith doesn't think it should be nationalized, but does think a universal basic education should be regulated and supported by the government, especially at the local level, in a way that allows people to make their own choices about their education to the extent consistent with the need to regulate the basic form of education).
(HT: Science and Politics)
