Sympathy As The First Principle Of Hume’s Moral Theory

During the Age of Enlightenment in18th century, there was a debate between themoral sentimentalism and the moral rationalism on the thesis of moral foundation.Distinct from the convention that reason controls passions, Modern Britain moralsentimentalists, including Hume, initiated an inquiry concerning the true origins ofmorality in passion. According to the experimental method of reasoning, Humeexplained the appearance of moral sentiments and its normative commitments withsympathy phenomena in society. Sympathy then become the topic of Hume’s moraltheory. However, its validity is also facing the doubt from some opponents oranomalies. Therefore, this thesis, based on illustration Hume made about the relationof reason and passion, will try hard to explicit its roles and status that sympathyperforms in his moral theory. And what’s more, I will search the real limitation ofsympathy and the purpose underlying Hume in the process of refutations.Hume’s sympathy is a phenomenon of sensibility interaction, which illustrates thebasis of consistent moral judgment in daily life. And, it is the key factor of sociallycommon moral sensations that established among individuals. In a review ofprecursors, we could discover a symbol of moral sentimentalism and someunresolved problems, such as the naturalistic fallacy, the force of justice, or thepractical reason. Rather, in the social practice, the driving sensations are normallyprior to and superior to the chilling rations, which play supplementary roles. Asfollows, according to the naturalistic belief cultivated by impressions or passions andthe change between passion and reason, Hume doubted the arbitrary of rationalismstatements in moral codes, then strengthened and developed moral sentimentalism byreplacing the natural sentiments, such as self-love and benevolence, with sympathy.In terms of its presentations, sympathy is similar to empathy, common sense,mercy, or compassion. And the mechanism of sympathy describes the evolutionarydevelopment process from the natural feelings to the social feelings. What a words, italso makes individuals under some special natural conditions or social conditions not to be constrained by their personal groups, but to consistently shape moral approvaland disapproval with the forcing sentients of public social interests. Furthermore, inthe process of sympathy with others and the world, we could really perceive andrecognize the identity of all human beings, and this possibility is a foundation ofmorality.