Adam Smith Sympathy Flashcards
How is sympathy important to Smith’s work?
it is the foundation of Smith’s moral system in the TMS - the backbone of Smith’s theory
Who is the spectator?
everyone, the observer of the agent. both real and imagined by the agent
what characteristic is central to the spectator?
impartiality - spectator imagines a further removed spectator watching himself and that makes him impartial
what is the role of the diety in Smith’s sympathy system?
he uses many phrases to refer to the diety, impartial spectators take their views from the diety. there is a difference on whether or not this is important, she thinks it is
sympathy is what of sentiments?
correspondence or concordance
what is at the root of the sympathetic process?
imagination. can only be a result of imagination because our knowledge of the situation is limited. imagining and entering the other situation
Two ways of reaching sympathy
imagine experiencing your situation as myself and imagine experiencing it as you. but if i don’t have the sympathy to imagine your situation as myself, i don’t have the sympathy to do it as you. the two are interlinked
what influences the degree to which we can sympathize
our knowledge of the situation
when does sympathy occur
when the spectator evaluates the reactions of the agent as proper or improper
results of sympathy
visceral reaction, pulling arm back when you see someone’s be broken. Divided sympathy: someone does something rule, you are likely to get upset, the spectator feels sympathy about that, but the reason could be innocuous and then the spectator sympathizes with the perp too. Contagious: passion may be contagious. There is mutual pleasure in sympathy
Mutual Sympathy
the pleasure of having sympathetic feelings, not having this is disagreeable, there is a dynamic quality to sympathy - we interact with each other, both the agent and the spectator work hard to sympathize with each other
who works harder for sympathy?
the agent because the feelings are real for him and more is at stake if there isn’t sympathy - more invested
what could prevent sympathy?
the passions of the agent might be too low or too high for the spectator to sympathize with
does the diety set up the sympathetic process?
yes the diety designs the world and appoints the impartial spectator, as such sympathy is the mechanism through which the will of the diety is implemented.
3 important dimensions of the sympathetic process
intersubjectivity: mutual recognition of each other’s minds and feelings
mutual influence because we’re working for concordance,
shared meaning creating universal moral code in society
conscience
the cumulative result of interaction between spectator and agent create and internalize aggregate that can be referred to as conscience. the internalized interactions between the spectator and the agent, internalize values of parents, learn from other children, it is our conscience that passes judgement about our actions an d sentiments
moral life
created through interactions between people that condition a consensual set of behaviors and norms - morality is created through the sympathetic process by interacting with the impartial spectator on our past actions we try to correct them - by collectively doing this we create a society conscience - we’re all connected through spectators and agents which creates cultural norms
do animals have moral self?
no, only humans
how are moral judgements achieved?
by imagining ourself as an ideal impartial spectator
could morality be achieved in a vacuum?
no, if man was in complete solitude he wouldn’t know deformity or the beauty of himself, he wouldn’t know what is morally acceptable or not, if he enters society he will create a moral self. passed down generation to generation.
general rules of morality
man kind are partial in viewing propriety of their conduct both before acting and after acting. we acquire these rules through experience in society.
can we judge our own actions?
might have difficulty, this is self deceit - there is remedy for it, nature teaches people not to act on self deceit because we’ll feel guilty if we do.
who plays the role of moderating the agent’s resentment?
the impartial spectator decides how much resentment they should feel, they won’t go along if they don’t agree
what does it mean to say justice is a negative virtue?
means to stop people from doing bad things. doesn’t encourage a good thing, but discourages a bad thing
what meanings does justice have according to Smith?
1) Commutative justice: about not harming others, he orders them. Harming a person, then rank and reputation, then property (worst to least worst injuries)
2) Distributive justice: we do something positively for someone else if what we do benefits them
3) Comprehensive virtue of character: we are unjust if we do not value a person in the way an impartial spectator would value a person
