In The Theory of Moral Sentiments Smith contends that sympathy (the similarity of sentiments) provides the basis for moral judgment. However, Smith specifies a signal obstacle to sympathy, the “peculiar” relations that affect some persons but not others (TMS I.i.4.1). Those without such relations are indifferent (impartial): they easily agree in their sentiments because they lack peculiar...
In Book III of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith speaks of duty, "the only principle by which the bulk of mankind are capable of directing their actions." But although duties are to be "regarded" as fixed "rules of justice," and even "regarded as the commands and laws of the Deity," Smith's analysis shows that duties in fact arise as an abstractions from ordinary moral experience: they...
Soren Kierkegaard presents an ethical system that remains very influential with three basic classifications. Some live the 'Aesthetic' life which is essentially hedonism, others the 'Ethical' life (following laws and behaving justly) and a few live the 'Spiritual' life (when laws and normal practice are suspended to pursue a higher telos).
This paper examines the extent to which the...
