Hobbs and Ann Smith, and the Economists' View of Humanity

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Hobbs thinks that we are like billiard balls on a pool table, basically atoms that cant occasionally knock into each other. Ekno says our natural status is that of isolated entities. For hobbs, we have to be afraid of each other. And that why we need to form ainof governments, leviathan, to protect human beings froma taking undue advantage of each others.

Physician and careful reader Richard Gunderman of Indiana University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Adam Smith and Leo Tolstoy looked at greed. Drawing on Tolstoy's short story, "Master and Man," and adding some Thomas Hobbes along the way, Gunderman argues that a life well-lived requires us to rise above our lower desires. Join Gunderman and Roberts for a sleigh ride into a snowy blizzard, where you won't find your way by following rules, but rather by recognizing what needs to be seen.