Adam Smith, Political Stability, and the Pull of Sympathy
Abstract
Adam Smith helped to revolutionize the concept of sympathy in the eighteenth century when, in the opening to The Theory of Moral Sentiments, he authoritatively gave to that term a definition which today is usually reserved for empathy. And Smith used this empathetic version of sympathy to explain the nature of moral judgement in novel ways. But while these features of Smith's moral philosophy are appreciated in the scholarship, the way that Smith used his innovation on sympathy to address fundamental questions about political stability is not. Smith's empathetic concept of sympathy allowed him to break away from early modern social contract theories, which emphasized the dangers of death and deception to ground prudential justifications for civil society, in favour of more humane motives of mutual respect and solidarity. This chapter attempts to balance our understanding of Smith in this regard.
Publication Title
Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Debes, R. (2025). Adam Smith, Political Stability, and the Pull of Sympathy. Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy, 146-166. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780191947353.003.0009
