Adam Smith Emotionalism Ethics Thought

As the great British economist Adam Smith and ethicists, its ethics thought has a certain era background and thought origin. In terms of time background, the British and the whole of Europe along with the development of capitalism, the capitalist in pursuit of the maximization of interests, led to a variety of exploitation, the moral status of decline. On the ideological origin, Shaftesbury proposed natural sensuality, kay bailey Francis Hutcheson, puts forward the moral sense, Hume, the moral philosophy of established emotionalism sympathy theory is proposed. Adam Smith on the basis of this puts forward his own theory.First is the theory of moral foundation to produce, Adam Smith think that people are born with a predisposition to compassion, the compassion comes from human nature of altruism. The moral basis of including the human nature basis and sympathy, said human altruism, creates a natural sympathy and compassion, the compassion has universality, for people and situations. And situation is that people are born with imagination, put yourself in the feeling of mutual sympathy for others and, to a certain extent of Adam Smith the emotionalism ethics moral foundation. Followed by the people are born with a predisposition to compassion and put yourself in thought, in the judgment of moral behavior produces a certain standard. Including theory, appropriate theory agree with theory of sense, the theory of conscience and sense of responsibility. Conformance aspects in the theory, Adam Smith pointed out that the occurrence of sympathy to cause others to agree with another person’s purpose or fitting, and the ability to judge a person’s sympathy is come from the conformance as a starting point. Conformance, it is the feelings of others and our own feelings of the right way, is through the emotions of lead and make the behavior consistent with other and morality. Agree with feeling, in the behavior of lucky and unlucky determine conformance, in case some more to get our sympathy or compassion. Under the condition of reality, Adam Smith proposed utility to agree with the role of emotions and habits and culture about moral agree and disagree with emotional impact. Conscience, just as one of the inner court to have the altruism behavior; The sense of responsibility, Adam Smith right sense of responsibility should be for people to act, according to its own true feelings and behavior and establish a sense of responsibility. Finally the virtue theory, in the judgment of moral behavior, people due to natural empathy and altruism, virtue will produce very big effect, including prudence, justice, and mercy, Adam Smith thinks, according to the perfect careful and strict standards of justice and the kindness of the appropriate to act, can be said to be the man with a perfect virtue. Adam Smith this constitutes the whole content of emotionalism ethics.Comprehensive Adam Smith’s emotionalism ethics thought has the very high value of sex, of course, its value in perfecting the emotionalism ethics theory and points out that moral behavior criterion. Embodied in explicitly put forward the person has a natural empathy and be good at how to generate empathy and how to distinguish the moral behavior, he put forward a behavior of conformance, agree with feeling, sense of responsibility, and play the role of virtue. Its limitations in the origin of the moral only for sympathy and moral judgment respectively, the origin of morality in addition to compassion and other social root, the judgment of its behavior is more respect for people, embody human fundamental principles, rather than relying on external fitting or approval.