Quotation
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“We must become the impartial spectators of our own character and conduct.”
Adam Smith · Moral philosophy · Enlightenment · 1759
What does it mean?
Moral judgement of ourselves, on his account, requires the standpoint of a fair observer who is not sunk in our own interests, and conscience is that effort of imagination. The usual reading takes the impartial spectator as the device by which sympathy is corrected for partiality. A rival reading identifies the spectator with the voice of the crowd, but he worries about that voice and wants a judge who is impartial rather than merely nearby. This sentence compresses part three of the Theory of Moral Sentiments; The idea is his, and the single-sentence polish is editorial.
Did Adam Smith really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Smith's account of the impartial spectator is secure across part three of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. This sentence compresses that account. It is not a single line he set in this exact shape. The idea is his. The polish is editorial.
Where it comes from
The Theory of Moral Sentiments III.1, compressed
Approximate date: 1759.
How to use it
Before an excuse is offered for a sharp email sent from a flat in Reading, describe the act as a stranger with the same facts would describe it. If the story changes a great deal in the retelling, the spectator has not yet been consulted, only the advocate. He thinks the correction is ordinary moral psychology, not a supernatural faculty; The exercise can be done in five minutes, and it can still be faked if the stranger is secretly a friend.
A mindset reading
The spectator is not the voice of shame from the crowd, and impartial is the word doing the work. Smith knows people bend to praise and blame that is merely fashionable. The standard he wants is a well-informed observer who enters into the situation and then discounts the agent's special pleading; Quoting a compressed sentence as if it were a single line he set in this shape overstates the citation.
Understand the philosophy
Sympathy plus the spectator is his alternative both to a special moral sense and to a purely rational law. The key term is the impartial spectator, an imagined judge constructed out of social mirrorings and then corrected. We judge by entering into situations, and then by removing the bias of being the person who acted. The compression in this entry should be quoted as a paraphrase of that account, which runs through part three.
- self
- ethics
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
Moral judgement of ourselves, on his account, requires the standpoint of a fair observer who is not sunk in our own interests, and conscience is that effort of imagination. The usual reading takes the impartial spectator as the device by which sympathy is corrected for partiality. A rival reading identifies the spectator with the voice of the crowd, but he worries about that voice and wants a judge who is impartial rather than merely nearby. This sentence compresses part three of the Theory of Moral Sentiments; The idea is his, and the single-sentence polish is editorial.
Did Adam Smith really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Smith's account of the impartial spectator is secure across part three of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. This sentence compresses that account. It is not a single line he set in this exact shape. The idea is his. The polish is editorial.
Which work is it in?
The Theory of Moral Sentiments III.1, compressed Approximate date: 1759.