Empiricism, Profit, Pleasure

Two of Smith's influential concepts plainly violate his previous orientation.  First, his combination of promoting Self-Interest and repressing Sympathy is clearly antithetical to his previous advocacy of the latter.  Second, his concept of an Invisible Hand is antithetical to his Empiricist roots, even as a metaphor for a generalization, since, as yet non-existent, his system offers no evidentiary basis for such a generalization.  Now, a third is also ungrounded, though a methodical derivation of it is not impossible.  That concept is that of Self-Interest as Profit, which diverges from the traditional principle of Self-Preservation.  But, available is a derivation from the Utilitarian Hedonism that Hume espouses.  For, a Hedonist can, borrowing from Spinoza, argue that Pleasure signifies an increase in strength, so an increase in wealth can correspond to Hedonist Self-Interest.  However, Spinoza's analysis is not available to an Empiricist, though Smith may no longer be that when he introduces the profit-motive as the fundamental principle of human behavior.