Speaker
Description
This paper offers a new perspective on the importance of Sophie de Grouchy’s 1798 translation of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments. I argue that the text’s rarely noted (and still untranslated) “Avertissement” should revise our understanding of the work in two ways. First, Grouchy notes that her appended Letters on Sympathy will “trace the line between the two schools of French and Scottish philosophy”. This clarifies their otherwise curious relationship to Smith. While the Letters have traditionally been read as mere commentary on TMS, such readings overlook Grouchy’s efforts to synthesize Smithian themes with the work of Condillac and Rousseau. I suggest that by ignoring her wider aims, we miss much of the originality in Grouchy’s radical politics of sympathy. Second, the “Avertissement” praises Smith’s political economy for being “liberal”, offering one of the earliest French uses of the term in this context. I conclude that Grouchy’s volume emerges as both a crucial conduit for Smith’s liberal system into France and an enduring resource for sentimentalist political thought.
| Organization | University of Cambridge |
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