SOURCE: "Ethics," in Adam Smith, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985, pp. 29–45.

In the following excerpt, Raphael judges the strengths and weaknesses of Smith's theory of moral judgment.

The first chapter of the Moral Sentiments is entitled 'Of Sympathy'; the first chapter of the Wealth of Nations is entitled 'Of the Division of Labour'. In each case the title is a signal of what Smith thinks most fundamental. The main subject of the Moral Sentiments is the nature of moral judgement and Smith founds it on sympathy. The main subject of the Wealth of Nations is economic growth and Smith founds that on the division of labour.

sympathy

It is a mistake to suppose, as a number of nineteenth-century commentators did, that Adam Smith's first book treats sympathy as the motive of moral action. The role of sympathy in his book is to explain the origin and the nature of...