Description
Chairperson: Douglas Den Uyl (Liberty Fund)
Adam Smith explores the dynamics– real and ideal – of human interaction. When people interact, they take on different social roles: they are agents, beneficiaries or victims of agents, or bystanders and spectators. Smith is famous for his account of spectators as moral judges. These judges rely on sympathy; their sympathy is directed towards people’s responsive sentiments.
Smith...
The process of mutual sympathy generates amiable virtues and awful virtues in spectators and agents, respectively. Moreover, in social interaction, these virtues provoke reactions of love and respect. These are the two attitudes required for what I call “sympathetic individualism,” which I propose as Smithean social ideal and which harmonizes respect for the dignity of each individual and the...
Abstract
Over two centuries have passed since Adam Smith’s seminal works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and The Wealth of Nations (WN), were introduced to the world, yet his theorization on social progress and human development remains incredibly timeless and pertinent. Among the various forms that this discussion can take, one of the central points of concern relates to the dynamics...
