Skip to main content

Hands invisible and intangible

Abstract

The notion of a spontaneous social order, an order in human affairs which operates without the intervention of any directly ordering mind, has a natural fascination for social and political theorists. This paper provides a taxonomy under which there are two broadly contrasting sorts of spontaneous social order. One is the familiar invisible hand; the other is an arrangement that we describe as the intangible hand. The paper is designed to serve two main purposes. First, to provide a pure account of the invisible hand, with some indication of the varieties of invisible hand (and, indeed, backhand) available. Second, to develop and motivate the unfamiliar conception of the intangible backhand. We believe that a recognition of the availability of this latter sort of spontaneous organising mechanism — and the mechanism is implicitly recognised in many traditions — is of great importance in political theory; it is of particular importance nowadays when the usual focus is entirely on the invisible hand.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

References

  • Aquinas, Thomas: 1958,Summa Theologica, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, Madrid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, Robert: 1984,The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, John and Philip Pettit: 1990,Not Just Deserts: A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, John: 1989,Crime, Shame and Reintegration, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, Geoffrey and Philip Pettit: 1990, ‘Unveiling the Vote’,British Journal of Political Science 20, 311–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, Geoffrey and Philip Pettit: 1991, ‘Modelling and Motivating Academic Performance’,The Australian Universities' Review 34, 4–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, James; 1975,The Limits of Liberty, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elster, Jon: 1983,Sour Grapes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elster, Jon: 1986, ‘The Market and the Forum’, in J. Elster and A. Hyland (eds.),Foundations of Social Choice Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 103–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, Russell: 1982,Collective Action, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, Friedrich: 1966, ‘Dr. Bernard Mandeville (Lecture on a Master Mind)’,Proceedings of the British Academy LII, 125–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollis, Martin: 1982, ‘Education as a Positional Good’,Journal of Philosophy of Education 16, 235–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Frank and Philip Petit: 1990, ‘Program Explanation: A General Perspective’,Analysis 50, 107–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Frank and Philip Petit: 1992a, ‘In Defence of Explanatory Ecumenism’,Economics and Philosophy 8, 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Frank and Philip Pettit: 1992b, ‘Structural Explanation and Social Theory’, in D. Charles and K. Lennon (eds.),Reduction, Explanation, and Realism, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, David: 1969,Convention, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, Arthur O.: 1961,Reflections on Human Nature, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, Robert: 1974,Anarchy, State and Utopia, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, Adrian: 1990,Citizenship and Community, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parfit, Derek: 1984,Reasons and Persons, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, Philip: 1982, ‘Habermas on Truth and Justice’, in G. H. R. Parkinson (ed.),Marx and Marxisms, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 207–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, Philip: 1986, ‘Free Riding and Foul Dealing’,Journal of Philosophy 83, 361–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, Philip: 1989, ‘The Freedom of the City: A Republican Ideal’, in A. Hamlin and P. Pettit (eds.),The Good Polity, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 141–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, Philip: 1990, ‘Virtus Normativa: Rational Choice Perspectives’,Ethics 100, 725–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, Philip: 1993,The Common Mind: An Essay on Psychology, Society and Politics, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pocock, J. G. A.: 1975,The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Theory and the Atlantic Republican Tradition, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schelling, T. C.: 1969, ‘Models of Segregation’,American Economic Review 59, 488–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, Quentin: 1983, ‘Machiavelli on the Maintenance of Liberty’,Politics 18, 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, Quentin: 1984, ‘The Idea of Negative Liberty’, in R. Rorty, J. B. Schneewinds, and Q. Skinner (eds.),Philosophy in History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 193–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Adam: 1982,The Theory of the Moral Sentiments, ed. by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie, Liberty Classics, Indianapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugden, Robert: 1986,The Economics of Rights, Cooperation and Welfare, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Michael: 1976,Anarchy and Cooperation, Wiley, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Michael: 1987a, ‘Rationality and Revolutionary Collective Action’, in M. Taylor (ed.),Rationality and Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 63–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Michael: 1987b,The Possibility of Cooperation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ullmann-Margalit, Edna: 1978, ‘Invisible-Hand Explanations’,Synthese 39, 263–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winch, Donald: 1978,Adam Smith's Politics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brennan, G., Pettit, P. Hands invisible and intangible. Synthese 94, 191–225 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064338

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064338

Keywords

  • Social Order
  • Political Theory
  • Political Theorist
  • Invisible Hand
  • Human Affair