Abstract

Due to its history, the word ‘greed’ is often understood as denoting an inherently wrongful act or disposition. This consensus undoubtedly stems from the almost unanimous condemnation greed has received from all societies throughout recorded history. However, in recent years there have been new advocates of greedy action, arguing that greed can, in fact, be good. Due to this recent clash over what it means to be greedy and whether or not it is permissible, our normative appraisal of greed has come into question. In this paper, I offer an alternative conceptual analysis of greed. This new understanding of greed, which builds off Adam Smith’s theory of moral sentiments, will both make sense of the recent advocacy of greedy action as well as the condemnation it has received from almost all known societies.