An anatomy of authority: Adam Smith as political theorist
剖析亚当·斯密的权威理论：人们因渴望高位而失败后，通过“替代性同情”与高位者认同，从而产生政治效忠，构成政治秩序的基础。该理论挑战了自由主义与传统主义政治理论。
Authority for Smith arises ironically from the desire to attain a high station in life. Given that most people fail, they 'free ride': they identify their ego with high-ranking agents, through 'vicarious sympathy'. Vicarious sympathy gives rise to status and, if combined with utility, would occasion political allegiance, the basis of political order (an invisible hand argument). Smith's theory challenges liberal political theory (of the classical type à la Locke or of the social type à la Bentham). It also challenges traditionalist political theory that deposits authority in the hands of selected guardians (from Plato to Strauss). Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.