Smith’s Theory Of Sympathy And Modern Enlightenment

The “sympathy” theory in the Adam Smith’s THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS is the main basis and the core of moral judgment in the study of Smith’s moral philosophy, and it plays an important role in maintaining social order and social moral construction. The main backgrounds of Smith writing the THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS are the British transformation period. During the time, many social moral problems emerged, class conflicts intensified. In order to improve people’s THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS, Smith wrote THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS. The “sympathy” theory in the book played a role in solving the problem of ethical issues of the society at that time. Therefore, to do moral construction and school moral education in social transformation period in our country, to analysis Smith’s “sympathy” theory objectively and getting enlightenment is very important.At first, this paper mainly discussed Smith’s THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS. This article analyzed the time background and social needs of Smith’s THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS, and the thought origin of Smith’s "sympathy" theory, Smith’s thought was mainly influenced by early emotionalism and the thoughts of Hutchinson and Hume. On this basis, Smith enriched and developed the "sympathy" theory.Then the paper mainly discussed Smith’s "sympathy" theory in the THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS. "Sympathy" is the basis of Smith’s "sympathy" theory, the emotion has been through the full, but Smith did not accurate definition of "sympathy", and he introduced the concept of impartial spectator. The thought is the core and internal review basis of the moral judgment. Moral judgment mainly was through the external suitability of personal or others’ behavior, emotions. Based on the analysis of the suitability, people’s sense of obligation and responsibility become the criterion of moral judgment. Four kinds of virtue which include cautious, kindness, justice and self-control are derived from the theory of "sympathy", and play an important role in the social moral construction and moral education.Finally the paper comprehensively analyzed the problems that existed in of the present social moral construction as well as the school moral education, analyzed the enlightenment of Smith’s "sympathy" theory to our country social moral construction and school moral education. Mainly due to the Smith’s theory of "sympathy" era characteristics is very similar to the current situation of the moral construction of our country, so Smith’s theory of "sympathy" has strong realistic meaning of social moral construction and moral education in our country. We can get inspiration from Smith’s “sympathy” theory, and promote the development of our social morality construction and school moral education.