Gregory
S. Brown
895 – 4181; gbrown@unlv.edu
M, W, F 10;30 - 11:20; CBC C316
Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments
beneficence:
"cannot be exerted by force"
"gratitude"
towards beneficence
"resentment"
against lack of beneficence?
"virtue
is justice"
"violation
of justice is injury ..proper object of resentment"
justice
can be induced by force (118
"sympathize
with the natural resentment of the injured ...the offender [is] the object
of ...indignation" (120)
basis of justice, then, is "call ...for vengeance and punishment ...."
"last
of all come personal rights" (121)
"solitude
is more dreadful than society" (122)
"Society
cannot exist among those who are ... ready to hurt one another"
"bneficence"
and "justice" are essential: where do they come from?
human nature: "natural sympathy" (125) ("natural love for society" (127): "abhorrence" of social disorder; hence "punishment of injustice"
"preservation
of society" therefore impels us to "the punishment of crimes ..."(129),
including crimes against individuals
crime against
a "single man" is therefore to be regarded as a threat not to
the "fortune" of any individual but of pthe "destruction
of society"
punishment for "breaches of civil police or military discipline" are necessary "from a view to the general interest of society" (131); differs from
"just
punishment" of murder, theft ...which is necessary create "indignation"
against injustice
Merit and
Demerit: "Fortune" : "unintended and unforeseen consequences"
of an action ...still generates "gratitude or resentment" (134)
indignation against one who injures us results from "that absurde self-ove ...he seems to imagine, that other people may be sacrificed ...to his convenience" (139)
must "bring him back to a more just sense ...make him sensible of what he owes us .."