The Theory of Moral Sentiments · Chapter
The Same Subject Continued explained
Smith continues his exploration of sympathy, describing how individuals adjust their emotions to achieve concord with spectators.
What happens
Smith continues his exploration of sympathy, describing how individuals adjust their emotions to achieve concord with spectators. He distinguishes between judgments of objects that do not personally affect us (where agreement reflects taste and judgment) and those that do (where mutual adjustment is crucial for social harmony). The chapter emphasizes the role of society in calming passions and the importance of the impartial spectator within oneself.
Themes in this chapter
The Impartial Spectator
Smith elaborates on how individuals view their own situation through the eyes of others, adjusting their passions to achieve concord with spectators, a core mechanism of the impartial spectator.
Sympathy as the Foundation of Moral Judgment
The chapter deepens the analysis of sympathy as the basis for moral approval, showing how correspondence of sentiments—whether in matters of taste or personal fortune—underpins social harmony and judgment.
Key passages
“As they are continually placing themselves in his situation, and thence conceiving emotions similar to what he feels; so he is as constantly placing himself in theirs, and thence conceiving some degree of that coolness about his own fortune, with which he is sensible that they will view it.”
Just as spectators imagine themselves in the sufferer's place, the sufferer imagines himself in the spectators' place, adopting their calmer perspective on his own situation.
This mutual adjustment is central to Smith's theory of sympathy and the impartial spectator.
“Society and conversation, therefore, are the most powerful remedies for restoring the mind to its tranquillity, if, at any time, it has unfortunately lost it; as well as the best preservatives of that equal and happy temper, which is so necessary to self-satisfaction and enjoyment.”
Social interaction is the best cure for emotional disturbance and the best way to maintain a balanced, contented state of mind.
Smith highlights the therapeutic role of society in regulating passions.
“Originally, however, we approve of another man's judgment, not as something useful, but as right, as accurate, as agreeable to truth and reality: and it is evident we attribute those qualities to it for no other reason but because we find that it agrees with our own.”
Our initial approval of someone's judgment is based on its perceived correctness and alignment with our own views, not on its utility.
Smith argues that utility is an afterthought in moral and aesthetic approval.