HES: Re: DISC--Smith and Invisible Hand

[Daniele Besomi]

Maybe I have missed some earlier posting, but there seems to have  
been yet no mention of a third occurrence of the 'invisible hand' in  
Smith (chronologically, the first), in the history of astronomy,  
where he discusses how people used to invoke Jupiter's invisible hand  
to explain phenomena they could not understand otherwise.

For a discussion along this line, seeing also the later uses of the  
metaphor in this connection, see J. B. Davis, “Smith’s Invisible Hand  
and Hegel’s Cunning of Reason”, in International Journal of Social  
Economics, 1989; “Adam Smith’s four Invisible Hands”, by S.Ahmad, in  
HOPE, 22:1, 1990; and, for those who can read Italian, A. M. Iacono,  
“Adam Smith e la metafora della ‘mano invisibile’”, in L’evento e  
l’osservatore. Ricerche sulla storicità della conoscenza, Bergamo:  
Lubrina, 1987; and S. Fiori, Ordine, mano invisibile e mercato  
(Torino: Utet, 2001).

Daniele Besomi