The Theory of Moral Sentiments · Chapter
Section III: Of the Different Systems Which Have Been Formed Concerning the Principle of Approbation explained
This section introduces the second major question in moral philosophy: the principle of approbation, or the mental faculty that makes certain characters agreeable or disagreeable.
What happens
This section introduces the second major question in moral philosophy: the principle of approbation, or the mental faculty that makes certain characters agreeable or disagreeable. Smith outlines three competing accounts—self-love, reason, and sentiment—as the source of moral approval and disapproval, noting that while the question is theoretically important, it has no practical effect on moral judgments.
Themes in this chapter
Self-Love and the Social Order
Smith identifies self-love as one of the three proposed sources of moral approbation, though he will later critique this view.
The Impartial Spectator
Though not directly named, the discussion of approbation as arising from sentiment foreshadows Smith's own theory of the impartial spectator.
Key passages
“After the inquiry concerning the nature of virtue, the next question of importance in Moral Philosophy, is concerning the principle of approbation, concerning the power or faculty of the mind which renders certain characters agreeable or disagreeable to us, makes us prefer one tenor of conduct to another, denominate the one right and the other wrong, and consider the one as the object of approbation, honour, and reward, or the other as that of blame, censure, and punishment.”
After examining what virtue is, the next key question in moral philosophy is about the principle of approval—the mental faculty that makes us like or dislike certain characters, prefer one behavior over another, call one right and the other wrong, and see one as worthy of praise and reward and the other as deserving blame and punishment.
Smith sets up the central question of the section: the source of moral approval.
“Self-love, reason and sentiment, therefore, are the three different sources which have been assigned for the principle of approbation.”
Thus, self-love, reason, and sentiment are the three different origins that have been proposed for the principle of approval.
Smith summarizes the three competing theories of moral approbation.
“The question concerning the nature of virtue necessarily has some influence upon our notions of right and wrong in many particular cases. That concerning the principle of approbation can possibly have no such effect.”
The question about the nature of virtue does affect our ideas of right and wrong in specific cases, but the question about the principle of approval has no such practical impact.
Smith distinguishes the theoretical importance of the principle of approbation from its lack of practical consequences.