Well most plainly that would be the accumulation of wealth,
monetary gain or in other words self-interest. Roots of this philosophy can be
traced to Adam Smith and his monumental work The Wealth of Nations which argues
that an individual acting in his own best interest and guided by the principle of justice
benefits himself and the society as a whole. This can also be looked at from the viewpoint of
the rational choice theory on which the profit motive functions.
