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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
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last edited 2 years ago by metalibri
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About this book
(Thanks to Wikipedia)
- English
- The Theory of Moral Sentiments was written by Adam Smith in 1759. It provided the ethical, philosophical, psychological and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including The Wealth of Nations (1776), A Treatise on Public Opulence (1764) (first published in 1937), Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795), and Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue, and Arms (1763) (first published in 1896).
- Deutsch
- Theorie der ethischen Gefühle (engl. The Theory of Moral Sentiments) ist ein erstmals 1759 in London in zwei Bänden veröffentlichtes philosophisches Werk von Adam Smith. Er erklärt darin umfassend, aus welchen Gründen es den Menschen möglich sei, füreinander das Gefühl der Sympathie zu empfinden.
- 日本語
- 道徳情操論（または『道徳感情論』）（どうとくじょうそうろん、原題：The Theory of Moral Sentiments）は、1759年に出版されたアダム・スミスの著作である。
- Русский
- Теория нравственных чувств (англ. The Theory of Moral Sentiments) — книга шотландского экономиста и философа Адама Смита, опубликованная в 1759 году во время Шотландского просвещения. При жизни Адама Смита книга выдержала 6 изданий (в 1759, 1761, 1767, 1774, 1781, 1790). Первые переводы на иностранные языки — французский и немецкий — были осуществлены соответственно в 1764 и 1770 годах.
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Articles
(extract) Hawthorne's position will be easier to appreciate if one first understands the rudiments of the position taken by Smith. Sympathy, for Smith, is our tendency to feel what others feel upon perceiving expressions of those feelings (as when we hear someone crying) or become aware of the circumstances which cause them (as when we hear someone dragging his or her fingernails across the blackboard).
Lectures
(extract) 'Sentiment' means here feeling or emotion. The moral sentiments are feelings or emotions of approval, disapproval, gratitude, resentment and so on. The book is also concerned with the dispositions relating to such feelings. 'Theory' derives from a Greek word that meant being a spectator or observer. It was used, for example, of the ambassadors sent by the cities to the Olympic Games. The contrast is with practice --- with being a participant in the games. In Aristotle theoretical knowledge is contrasted with practical, knowledge oriented to action; and Aristotle classes ethics as practical. Smith's book is not ethics, it is not practical, it is theory of moral feelings --- what would now be called moral psychology. 'Theory' is not meant to suggest a contrast with fact --- as we often expect 'theoretical' studies to be highly abstract, abstruse, hypothetical, speculative. In the Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith gives a commonsensical and accessible analysis of various feelings and psychological dispositions relating to morality, an account which readers are invited to test against their own experience of these feelings. In a secondary way the book is also an ethics, since A. Smith regards the moral sentiments as the sufficient basis of moral judgement. We judge that some action is wrong when we feel a sentiment of disapproval when we consider the action.
Reading guides
(extract) The Theory of Moral Sentiments is a contribution to both psychology and ethics. Its purpose is to find a basis for ethical judgement in human psychology. The psychology is in terms of "propensities" (i.e. tendencies, dispositions, capacities) found in human nature: a human being placed in a certain situation has a propensity to act or react in certain ways.
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