Imagination, Affirmation, and Interaction: Reasons for Reading Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy

摘要

Adam Smith is known chiefly for his economic treatise The Wealth of Nations ([1776] 1981). Relatively few appreciate his moral philosophy. Even fewer recognize that Smith did not regard himself as an economist. In fact, toward the end of his life he asserted that his earliest work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments ([1759-90] 1982), whose first edition was published in 1759, when he was thirty-six, was his best (Romilly 1840,1:403, cited in Phillipson 2010,274). Perhaps Smith had it right. There are certainly important reasons for reading Smith's book on morals, and they bear relevance to a society riven by social and political faction. Smith's volume enlivens our moral imaginations and assures us that ethical challenges can be overcome. Moreover, it encourages us to engage with those who differ and to employ our imaginations to conceive the world from perspectives we might be reluctant to embrace. In so doing, we move away from faction and from a self-deceit that flatters us as it diminishes others.