Read on Twitter
As someone who spends a lot of time reading Adam Smith, it will never cease to bother me when people casually reference the "invisible hand" as symbolizing free markets.
Mention One - History of Astronomy: "Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy bodies descend, and lighter substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter ever apprehended to be employed in those matters."
Mention one is distinct from the other two appearances of invisible hand which are significant in Smith. However, it's important to get a full appreciation for the term, and also because the History of Astronomy should be read more often.
Mention Two - Theory of Moral Sentiments (1/2): "They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants..."
Mention Two - Theory of Moral Sentiments (2/2): "...and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species."
The footnote in the Glasgow edition of TMS comments that this use of the invisible hand is concerned with the distribution of means to happiness (Page 184). Although happiness for Smith requires much more than basic necessities.
Mention Three - Wealth of Nations (1/2): "By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain..."
Mention Three - Wealth of Nations (2/2): "..., and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."
Here one can observe the traditional self-interest which people have come to associate with Smith. But it doesn't symbolize "the free market." Rather it is concerned with the result of our unintentional actions.
And perhaps more importantly, the limitations of what we can understand about our actions. All of this is a long way of saying that the invisible hand as a concept in Smith does not equal free market.
That being said, I am far from an expert on the invisible hand. There are a lot of nuances to the term which out of context quotes don't capture. But it is a far more interesting and complex term than any association with "free markets" allows it to be.
