Adam Smith on humanity and moral concern: Comments on Samuel Fleischacker’s Being Me Being You

Abstract

“There is no sharp line between being me and being you.” So writes Samuel Fleischacker in his lucid, approachable, and at times provocative attempt to offer a Smithian ethics for our contemporary moment. The book, while partly interpretive, is more often constructive. In it, Fleischacker aims to bring Adam Smith’s insights and arguments to bear on a range of everyday moral concerns as well as some persistent problems in philosophical ethics, albeit sometimes in what Fleischacker calls an “updated” form. Empathy, as the title promises, is at the fore. And those who are interested in understanding the nature and contemporary import of Smith’s own theory of empathy (or in Smith’s terminology, “sympathy”) will be richly rewarded by Fleischacker’s careful analysis. Not only does he level a few persuasive objections against some of the best known ethical accounts of empathy, but Fleischacker also offers compelling suggestions for how a properly registered Smithian alternative can do better.

Publication Title

Adam Smith Review Volume 14

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