Study On Adam Smith's Sympathy Thoughts

Adam Smith was not only a master of economy but also a prominent moralist in history. However studies ever made on his ethical thoughts were far from enough compared with those on his economic achievements, which had been studied in more depth and more comprehensively. It is not until recent years that people found his ethical thoughts of sympathy theory while they seeking for the answer to moral crisis generated by the market economic. So studying the structure framework and detailed contents, impersonality analyzing the value and meaning of his ethical thoughts of sympathy theory, would be favorable to holding the system of this theory and providing edification for our country's moral construction. This article analyzes Adam Smith's ethical thoughts of sympathy theory from four points.The first part expatiate the forming of Adam Smith's ethical thoughts of sympathy theory. It was come into being in the 18th century in Britain, based on the historical condition and profound theoretical fundamental together with the development of methodology of the social background then.The second part of this thesis expatiate the theory structure of Adam Smith ethical thoughts of sympathy theory. Took the "sympathy" as kernel and main sequence, Smith constructed the integrated moral system. He thought that sympathy is a natural generated feeling when we put ourselves on the position of the person concerned,using our imagination. Sympathy is a foundation and source of moral; Sympathy is not only the standard we adopted to evaluate the moral of other people and ourselves, but also the feeling basis which formed the social rank and individual virtue.The third part of this thesis expatiate the value and limitation of Adam Smith's theory. sympathy as the foundation of social formation have the opening significance; it is a new social cognition principle difference from prior moral sense theory; sympathy is the foundation of"public virtue",the basic reason of social stratification; it reveals the effect of use sympathy mechanism in moral evaluation; a deep explanation of moral order evolution mechanism in social transformation. However, some fatal limitation existed in Adam Smith's ethical thoughts of sympathy theory. As the evaluation standard, sympathy thoughts have subjectivity; Adam Smith's sympathy thoughts is abstract emotion, he discussed sympathy thoughts in an abstract sense; the foundation of the Theory of Human Nature of the sympathy thoughts is abstract.The fourth part of this thesis expatiate the significance of Adam Smith's theory. His ethical thoughts of sympathy theory have important academic significance as well as far-reaching practical significance. It is helpful the development of Economics Game Theory, It is the foundation of theory of empathy of psychology, Open the study of sympathy thoughts, it is the helpful supplement of Marxism moral evaluation standard. It provided the theoretical instruction for the nowadays moral construction.