The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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.

There is no doubt Adam Smith is one of the greatest minds in history and this book embodies his insights on human nature. He did a theoretical review of ancient perspectives on moral theories, followed by his comments on each of the different schools of thoughts. It is always enjoyable to see how he explains and refutes on the fallacies of those thinkings, and in the process offers refined versions to the original. Though several examples of his brilliance have been mentioned by other comments, two uncited instances/traits of this book are probably worth mentioning: 1.) His insights on the system of sympathy. His analysis on sympathy is about as clear and concise as one could get, and is definitely enlightening to those not well learnt in moral philosophy. Symphathy, accordingly, is the basis for much of human emotions, and he argued forcefully on how the system of sympathy works in shaping our bahaviors and emotions, and how sympathy works differently when perceived situations changed. However, his usage of the word `sympathy' seems to cover the domain of both `compassion' and `sympathy' in normal man's vocabulary, indirectly suggesting that both are actually the same sentiment but differed because of different standpoints. Though so, one of his greatest contributions to moral philosophy is in the construction of this descriptive system of sympathy. 2.) His ability to strip twisted logics into manageable pieces and reconstruct them into good logic. For example, he explained that the doctrine of Bernard Mandeville, who "by means of this sophistry that he establishes his favorite conclusion, that private vice is public benefits." It is obvious from Adam Smith's point of view that private vice is not equal to public benefit, but because of the sophistication of the logical deduction involved, the less skillful or diligent minded people will fall prey to it. A quote from Part VI Section VII "These, described and exaggerated by the lively and humorous, though coarse and rustic eloquence of Dr Mandeville, have thrown upon his doctrines an air of truth and probability which is very apt to impose upon the unskillful." Anyway, there's lots of wisdom in this book, so read it slowly and only when you could focus your attention on it. There are some who find this book too long, but frankly it is not. Every sentence makes a point. Lastly, a favorite quote for your enjoyment: "Though none but the weakest and most worthless of mankind are much delighted with false glory, yet, by a strange inconsistency, false ignominy is often capable of mortifying those who appear the most resolute and determined."

This is not so much a review of the book, but the formatting. Unfortunately, Amazon lumps all reviews for the same "book" together, so I'll specify this one by its publisher: FQ Classics. If you're looking at another edition, feel free to ignore these comments. Anyway, the FQ Classics version has no table of contents and no cover, making the book nearly impossible to navigate quickly. Since Theory of Moral Sentiments is so useful as a reference, this severely hinders the usefulness of this edition. Additionally, the in-text table of contents (no links) refers to page numbers that don't exist on the Kindle. Do yourself a favor and buy the Oak Grove edition. It has an excellent table of contents which functions like it should!

Livro mais denso e filosófico do que A Riqueza das Nações. Sem a leitura dele, entretanto, talvez não se compreenda, em toda a sua extensão, o conceito de "mão invisível" apresentado na magnum opus de Adam Smith. A partir do conceito de empatia (simpathy), que, por si só, traz desafios (por exemplo, a diferença entre empatia, compaixão e piedade), o livro faz uma longa digressão filosófica sobre a empatia entre os sujeitos, sempre admitindo que tal sentimento é inato. Começando pela compaixão (que é, muitas vezes, esquecida pelos liberais), Smith encaminha-se, ao longo da primeira terça parte do livro, para a empatia não entre aquele que sofre e aquele que assiste ao sofrimento alheio, mas entre o que conquista e aqueles que querem se identificar com o conquistador. Considerando que este segundo sentimento é mais fácil de "captar" do que a compaixão - e considerando que o verdadeiro amigo não inveja o sucesso de quem lhe é próximo -, Smith acredita que, ao "captar" o sentimento de alegria dos outros, o sujeito procurará formas de também senti-lo. Uma dessas possibilidades é através da propensão inata (de novo a natureza humana) de manter relações com pessoas com as quais nos identificamos empaticamente ou queremos nos identificar. Estão criadas, assim, as condições para um círculo virtuoso no qual, cada um procurando formas de ser individualmente feliz, procura os outros para, de fato, sê-lo em grupo. Não é preciso dizer que, dez anos depois de A Teoria dos Sentimentos Morais, Smith irá perceber que tal raciocínio é aplicável, também, ao sistema econômico e ao modo de produção capitalista que estava se formando na metade do século XVIII. Embora, ao longo do século XIX, somente o conceito puramente econômico da mão invisível tenha sobrevivido - para sustentar ideologicamente o capitalismo -, dá para arriscar, baseado nA Teoria dos Sentimentos Morais, que Adam Smith jamais endossaria qualquer sistema de produção que não passasse pela identificação empática entre seus participantes, inclusive no bojo da divisão do trabalho, e pela decisão eminentemente individual dele participar, desde que, com isso, o sujeito se sentisse mais feliz.

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.

Written in 1759 and still no relevancy lost in 2024

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。、

This books is a masterpiece, not only of philosophical ethics, but also of social psychology. It recasts ethics by examining the psychology of why people think some actions good and other actions bad. It's examination of these psychological factors is both incisive and pretty exhaustive. At times, it contains pre-echoes of the ideas of modern evolutionary psychologists, as in the following passage: "Thus self-preservation, and the propagation of the species, are the great ends which Nature seems to have proposed in the formation of all animals. Mankind are endowed with a desire of those ends, and an aversion to the contrary; with a love of life, and a dread of dissolution; with a desire of the continuance and perpetuity of the species, and with an aversion to the thoughts of its intire extinction. But though we are in this manner endowed with a very strong desire of those ends, it has not been intrusted to the slow and uncertain determinations of our reason, to find out the proper means of bringing them about. Nature has directed us to the greater part of these by original and immediate instincts." These instincts are brought to bear in explaining, among other things, why parents are more likely to be excessive than deficient in love for their children, and why we are horrified by the deficiency, but tolerant of the excess. That's classic Evo Psych, a hundred years before Darwin. Apart from a very wide ranging survey of ethical topics, there is also an essay on aesthetics, which again is very much in tune with modern psychology, a discussion of economic behaviour (not surprising, given that Adam Smith pretty much invented modern economics), a discussion of cultural differences in ethics, an examination of some topics in politics, and an interesting reassessment of then-existing theories of ethics in the light of Adam Smith's psychological theory. Not only does the book give an excellent overview of ethical topics and a very well thought out and interesting theory, it's also an enjoyable read, and full of interesting thoughts on psychology. I'm inclined to think that a social psychologists could make a whole career by going through this book chapter by chapter and basing research projects around the ideas contained therein. It could also be used as a moral guide. It deserves to be very widely read.