Title: As Seen by Others: Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments
Abstract: Abstract This chapter addresses Adam Smith’s treatment of the interactions between sympathy and imagination in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. The discussion highlights Smith’s model of the ‘impartial spectator’, as a construct of the imagination—its relations to older ideas of conscience and propriety, and its bearing on the ideal of objective judgement. It also discusses Smith’s friendship with David Hume—their attitudes to religious belief, especially in relation to immortality and divine judgement; and the importance of their treatments of sympathy and imagination for understanding the development of the idea of the secular in Enlightenment thought. The chapter includes discussion of the influence of Stoicism on Smith’s thought, especially in relation to cosmopolitanism; and of his treatment of the impact of Fortune on human agency. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of Smith’s suggestion in his early essay The History of Astronomy that philosophy is ‘one of those arts which address themselves to the imagination’.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-07-11
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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