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