Theory of ethical feelings

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Theory of ethical sentiments (English. The Theory of Moral Sentiments ) is a philosophical work by Adam Smith, first published in 1759 in London in two volumes . In it he explains comprehensively the reasons why it is possible for people to feel a sense of compassion for one another .

Content and meaning

Smith explains in detail his conception of the essence of man. On this he builds the thesis that moral rules are the means to practice this being in reality . To describe the interrelationships Smith constructs a fictional character: the " impartial observer " ( the Impartial spectator ).

Smith is based on the sensitive communication of people who observe each other when they deal with each other. In this way people are taught through experience that morality results from the similarity in the mutual feeling of pleasure , suffering , a sense of duty and others. According to Smith, a person's conduct in this dealings with one another is approved (i.e. accepted in his judgment of the action) if it is based on decent and legitimate motives - but not because it is simply of use to the people .

The fact that people observe each other according to their ideas , i.e. fictitiously , drives them to behave decently or at least to pretend this to the outside world. However, for actual behavior that is seen as right and fair, they have to overcome their self-love . In the construction of the impartial observer, Smith creates justification content in a “collective form” that decides what is to be accepted as “fair and decent”. This reasoning content manifests a common sense (a common sense ), a position which the people accept as a common basis, so this fictitious observer does not act as an outsider in his attitude.

While the principle of sympathy enables a person to approve or disapprove of the motives of the other, the impartial observer allows him to subject his own motives and behavior to a moral evaluation. While sympathy can be seen as the foundation of Smith's moral theory and answers the question of which principle makes certain actions, motives etc. appear morally good, the impartial observer is the criterion for morality and answers the question: which behavior deserves moral approval? However, according to Smith, this idea will only have a certain validity if the person also has the will to empathize , to put himself in the role of the other, to whom the sympathy is to be shown.

reception

The behavioral economics today tried the human image of the economy (see. Homo economicus ) to the connecting psychology (again). Smith's work deals with motivations of the people, a subject that has been lost in modern economics . Phenomena such as a strong preference for the present or overestimation of oneself , which have already been hinted at in this work, are now increasingly being investigated using empirical methods (cf. Experimental Economics ). The idea of loss aversion can also be found in the work, which was later taken up by the Prospect Theory .

Editions

  • 1759, 1st edition
  • 1761, 2nd edition
  • 1767, 3rd edition
  • 1774, 4th edition (extended title: "An essay towards an analysis of the principles by which men naturally judge concerning the conduct and character, first of their neighbors, and afterwards of themselves" )
  • 1781, 5th edition
  • 1791, 6th edition (last in my own hand, published posthumously)
  • 1770, first German translation of the 3rd edition as the theory of moral sensations by Christian Günther Rautenberg, Braunschweig
  • 1791, German by Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten , Leipzig (2 vol.)
  • 2004, German by Walther Eckstein. Felix Meiner, Hamburg, ISBN 3-7873-1671-X

literature

  • Jerry Evensky: Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments: On Morals and Why They Matter to a Liberal Society of Free People and Free Markets . In: Journal of Economic Perspectives , Vol. 19, No. 3, Summer 2005, pp. 109–130.
  • Kleer, Richard A .: The theory of moral sentiments. (2003): 787-788.
  • Haveman, Heather A., ​​Hayagreeva Rao: Structuring a theory of moral sentiments: institutional and organizational coevolution in the early thrift industry 1. In: American Journal of Sociology 102.6 (1997): 1606-1651.
  • Ernst Tugendhat: Lectures on Ethics . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1993, ISBN 3-518-06746-X .
  • Eckstein, Walther: Introduction to Adam Smith: Theory of ethical feelings. In: Smith, Adam: Theory of Ethical Feelings. Translated from the last edition by W. Eckstein 2 (1926).

Web links

notes

  1. ^ German first edition: Reprint 1759 in Düsseldorf ; as a theory of moral feelings in Braunschweig in 1770 ; The full English title is: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, or an essay towards an analysis of the principles, by which men naturally judge concerning the conduct and chararacter, first of their neighbors and afterwards of themselves
  2. ↑ Christoph Helferich: History of Philosophy: From the Beginnings to the Present and Eastern Thinking . Springer-Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-476-00760-5 , pp. 202 .
  3. ↑ Beck, Hanno: Behavioral Economics: An Introduction. Springer-Verlag, 2014. p. 9.
  4. ↑ can be viewed in all larger German public libraries via customer data at your own workstation