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The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Dover Philosophical Classics) Paperback – December 1, 2006

by Adam Smith (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 734 ratings
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The foundation for a general system of morals, this 1749 work is a landmark in the history of moral and political thought. Readers familiar with Adam Smith from The Wealth of Nations will find this earlier book a revelation. Although the author is often misrepresented as a calculating rationalist who advises the pursuit of self-interest in the marketplace, regardless of the human cost, he was also interested in the human capacity for benevolence — as The Theory of Moral Sentiments amply demonstrates.
The greatest prudence, Smith suggests, may lie in following economic self-interest in order to secure the basic necessities. This is only the first step, however, toward the much higher goal of achieving a morally virtuous life. Smith elaborates upon a theory of the imagination inspired by the philosophy of David Hume. His reasoning takes Hume's logic a step further by proposing a more sophisticated notion of sympathy, leading to a series of highly original theories involving conscience, moral judgment, and virtue.
Smith's legacy consists of his reconstruction of the Enlightenment idea of a moral, or social, science that embraces both political economy and the theory of law and government. His articulate expression of his philosophy continues to inspire and challenge modern readers.
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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Dover Publications
  5. Publication date
    December 1, 2006
  6. Dimensions
    6.38 x 0.75 x 8.26 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0486452913
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0486452913
  9. Lexile measure
    1570L
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications; Reprint edition (December 1, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0486452913
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486452913
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1570L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 0.75 x 8.26 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 734 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Adam Smith

    Adam Smith

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    Adam Smith (16 June 1723 NS (5 June 1723 OS) – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy, and a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

    Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the father of modern economics and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today.

    Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by fellow Scot, John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day.

    Smith laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time. The minor planet 12838 Adamsmith was named in his memory.

    Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by unknown artist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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  2. Knud Haakonssen

    Knud Haakonssen

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  3. A. L. Macfie

    A. L. Macfie

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Top reviews from the United States

Aran Joseph Canes
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brief Preface to the Theory of Moral Sentiments
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2021
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments is read far less often than the The Wealth of Nations. After reading it I can see why. It’s a difficult text; not only full of tangents, it surveys different topics in ethics non-systemically. It’s even difficult to fully suss out the core of what Smith holds about morality.

As I see it, Moral Sentiments is the natural complement to Smith’s more noted work. While the Wealth of Nations traces the flow of labor, capital and wealth through the nascent market economy, Moral Sentiments describes the virtues, vices, character and necessary behavior of mankind in the newly founded state of freedom.

Just as the workings of the market economy needed a fresh treatment from the feudal understandings of the Middle Ages, so newly democratic man, endowed with certain capabilities by nature, needed a guide beyond the God/sin motifs of the Middle Ages.

At least that is how I read the overall goal of the Theory of Moral Sentiments. A foundational text in the Enlightenment school of Locke, Hobbes and Hume. Written with only the benefit of a classical education and the anthropology of indigenous peoples, Smith may not have said the last word on ethics, but it’s hard to imagine modernity without it. Highly recommended to all interested in the history of Western civilization.
14 people found this helpful
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Asko Korpela
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book with improved Kindle
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2016
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There are two aspects in this review. One is about the book and the other about Amazon's contribution to the Revolution in Reading.
First of all the book. I am reading Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments the second time and the second time preparing my MyeBooks notes on it. It will be interesting to compare those two in my system of no less than the Revolution in Learning. As professor of economics I have also read Adam Smith's even more famous book The Wealth of Nations, even if half a century later than I should have. His easily recognizable very personal way of writing and suffocating the reader with, least to say, proliferous zunami of detailed text is at the same time entertaining and really suffocating. But also completely convincing. They say about some political leaders that they have the Nile or an Amazon of thoughts. Adam Smith, too. He would deserve of being a big political boss. As he in reality also is. The best economic policy is conducted on the basis of his still valid thoughts on economics, which in turn are based on his Theory of Moral Sentiments presented in this book. No need, and no competence to go into the mydiad of details here. Overwhelming.
Secondly, some words about my first experience with Amazon's new improvements of Kindle. During the five years I have been using Kindle, it has changed, improved a lot. Many times I have had the feeling that Amazon has taken into account the suggestions I have made in my feedback. Perhaps, perhaps not needed, because they have been so obvious that anybody could have requested them and Amazon's skilled programmers could have worked on their own.
Two big improvements I see first time in this book. I do not know the proper term, but name it the 'surrounded screen'. And the X-ray property. By introducing the ingenious toggling between full screen and surrounded screen has brought to the ebook one of the still missing properties of paper book: 'leafing around'. Making the reading a cosy event. I would say that I alternate big screen and surrounded about half and half of the time. It is astonishing that the surrounded can really be read without trouble although it is given with remarkably smaller font. l use the surrounded for speedy reading, seem to grasp the whole screen with one glance, somehow picking the beef quicly, or use surrounded for speeding uninteresting spots of text.
The X-ray property is an excellent supplement for constant looking up in Wiki. An improvement to lookups, because there are summaries of several lookups and sorted list of persons, events etc. But Amazon could easily take a couple of further cock steps forwards. Google maps could be provided in connection to place names. With the fine properties of measuring distance, showing road and giving prepared information in pictures and summaries.
But then there is not but a cock step, but a big leap to be made by Amazon to make Kindle another Revolution of Learning. Not just looking up words in dictionaries but also saving for future needs and memorizing the word definitions just as I have made in MyeBooks. [...]
Five stars without any hesitation.
18 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars The book is physically damaged slightly
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2023
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As described. However, the book is physically damaged slightly.
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CST
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any scholar or lover of knowledge.
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2019
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My review will be on the penguin classics edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith. First of all I’d like to begin with the fact that this book can be interpreted as one of the best self help books ever written(find out). Smith gives many examples of other philosophical theories of ethics and then draws his conclusions at the end of his review of them. This was Smith’s favorite work even though most of us know him because of the wealth of nations, if one would like to understand the wealth of nations accurately you would first have to read this treatise. Many on the left hate him and many on the right praise him, this is not a proof of any great truth about Smith’s thought, its only a proof of how uninformed our political discourse and politicians have become. Smith proves himself to be practical, understanding, and a systematic thinker. He’s not a “classical liberal” a “right winger” a “socialist” or even a leave alone capitalist. He’s none of those, he’s a thinker and that’s it. He despised factions and greed. I encourage anyone to read this book that can serve as a self help book or as the first part of the wealth of nations. Smith considered this as part of the wealth of nations as “one part of a whole”.
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Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Top
Reviewed in Germany on March 11, 2024
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Gutes Buch.
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Neil J. Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent scholarly edition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2024
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This is an excellent scholarly edition of Professor Smith's "The theory of moral sentiments". Reading Adam Smith's "The theory of moral sentiments", I was engaged by his polite and careful writing and by his devotion to individual conscience ("The love of praise-worthiness is by no means derived altogether from the love of praise. Those two principles, though they resemble one another, though they are connected, and often blended with one another, are yet, in many respects, distinct and independent of one another" Part III Chapter II paragraph 2).

Smith vigorously defends human integrity, rejecting Dr Mandeville's allegations that human beings are all hypocrites who make a mere show of public-spiritedness (Part VII Section II Chapter IV paragraph 7), while Smith acknowledges that occasionally this sort of behaviour occurs (for example, being visited hypocritically on your sick bed by a secret enemy Part III Chapter III paragraph 24). Smith stands a proud and enlightened man proclaiming how natural it is for human beings to adhere to moral and ethical laws. Yet in Part V Chapter I paragraph 4 he says (with principal regard to the arts, in fact, but relevant to morals as these too can be said to have beauty) "Few men have so much experience and acquaintance with the different modes which have obtained in remote ages and nations, as to be thoroughly reconciled to them or to judge with impartiality between them, and what takes place in their own age and country", and in Part VII Section III Chapter III paragraph 11 he acknowledges the influence the sentiments of others around you can have on your own moral perspective.

I wish I could believe that mankind could possibly enjoy a secure moral anchor in the tempest of human affairs and not be gripped by social insanities such as the antisemitism of 1930s Germany, where people's influence on one another's moral perspectives allowed a pernicious doctrine to flourish. What sort of world must Adam Smith have lived in to allow him to form these opinions?

Certainly Smith was a royalist with a firm belief in the hierarchical structure of society ("Nature has wisely judged that the distinction of ranks, the peace and order of society, would rest more securely upon the plain and palpable difference of birth and fortune, than upon the invisible and often uncertain difference of wisdom and virtue." Part VI Section II Chapter I paragraph 20). Is it really only from within the precincts of some enlightened dictatorship we can enjoy any real moral security? That even this might not be such a Utopia is suggested to a modern reader reading Part V Chapter II paragraph 4, where Smith, in explaining the different attitudes and behaviours expected from the different ranks within society, suggests that different moral codes apply too.

Smith, of course, was a respectable part of the eighteenth century British establishment and there is no doubt that behind "The theory of moral sentiments" lies a certain degree of Christian utopianism. Revealing, I think, is what Smith says in Part II Section II Chapter III paragraph 2. "Society may subsist among different men, as among different merchants, from a sense of its utility, without any mutual love or affection; and though no man in it should owe any obligation, or be bound in gratitude to any other, it may still be upheld by a mercenary exchange of good offices according to an agreed valuation."

It is apposite to mention briefly in memory of the recently deceased liberal and gentle Professor Robert Solow that, as is evident from Smith's irritated remarks about tooth-picks, ear-picks and nail cutters in Part IV Chapter I paragraph 8, Smith was at the time he wrote "The theory of moral sentiments" no technophile - an attitude which was going to have to change as the industrial revolution got going.

A modern reader must be a little careful too over Smith's use of language as, for example, he uses the word "sympathy" not in the modern sense of feeling sorry for someone, but in a sense closer to the etymology of the word, namely, a parallel and simultaneous similar feeling to that being experienced by the other person. The word "diffidence" is another example. He does not mean shyness, but means something closer to the roots of the word, meaning scepticism or lack of trust. I personally find Smith very accessible and readable, however.
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Amit Sharma
5.0 out of 5 stars Best books on virtue and its importance in public and private life
Reviewed in India on March 30, 2021
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Amartya Sen rightly said that it is one of the best books in intellectual history of human kinds. It is very difficult to understand the argument of Adam Smith about the human behavior and moral philosophy. Any one wants to understand about the importance of the virtue in public and private life must read this book specifically those peoples who criticize the ideas of capitalism as an immoral and some kinds of unjust system.
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MMA
1.0 out of 5 stars Only Part 1 of 7 Parts??
Reviewed in Spain on September 20, 2018
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Ok, so I am a little bit puzzled here. This book is supposed to have 7 parts, but it only contains Part 1. Am I missing something here? I am returning the book and I hope that this editorial learns that when you sell a book it is not suposed to be 1/7th of a book, but the entire thing. What a waste of time. I do not understand how the previous customer comment does not even comment on this issue. About the Theory of Moral Sentiments itself, of course, being Adam Smith you know that what you are reading is a piece of art, well, I guess a 7th part in this case..
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そら
5.0 out of 5 stars moralを感知するための秘訣がまとめられている
Reviewed in Japan on June 26, 2023
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moralを感覚的に、感知するための秘訣、述それを、日常の暮らしのみならず、経済性にまでも活かせるよう、実践的に、述べられているので、どのページを開いても、吸い込まれるようにのめり込んでしまう、魅惑を放つ書籍です。、
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