A Scottish Gentleman

Adam Smith, often called the father of capitalism, is probably best known for for his book, The Wealth of Nations. However, The Wealth of Nations was not his first work. His first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments in many ways laid the ground work for his later, more famous publication. We were recently in Scotland, where he is from, which prompted me to write this paper. Despite being less well known it is believed to have been more liked by the author. First published in 1759, the premise of the book is that “Our moral ideas and actions are a result of our very nature as social creatures” and says that this is a better guide to morals than reason.

One of the big ideas of The Theory of Moral Sentiments is that despite being separate individuals most of us can have empathy, that is, we can feel other’s emotions as our own, albeit not as keenly as the one originally experiencing it. Because of this, although we look out for ourselves, we also can be concerned for the wellbeing of others, and may put ourselves in harms way for others, even a stranger in some cases. Because of this, Smith asserts that the idea of morality comes from ourselves and our nature as both social and separate creatures capable of making our own choices.

Another key subject is the idea of being accountable for your actions, and being able to be held to some standard, and the idea of justice, also comes from this. There are two kinds of justice, justice from the society, and your conscience, which is you judging yourself. Societal justice is more severe, often with ostracism in addition to other state enforced punishments, but your conscience can allow you to think and realize what you did wrong, and make you change to be a more moral person.

The final pivotal idea of the book is that although morality, empathy, and justice may be important, the true goal is to be virtuous. For an impartial spectator, real or fake, to look upon your actions and be able to empathize entirely with your actions and emotions is the path to self control, which holds the secret to true virtue. True virtue is what all people should strive for because it leads to societal order, which is good.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments is an interesting book, and although it is a tough read being so old, it’s philosophies still hold true. At the end of the paper Smith says that the truly virtuous man should be self controlled, virtuous, and have prudence and beneficence, and I think that he is right. We should all strive to do our best, not just for ourselves, but also for each other.

Source

AdamSmith.org