The Contemporary Relevance of Adam Smith’s Moral Sentimentalism

Abstract

You do not often hear “sentimentalism” listed among the ethical theories, but you might still want to know what this project of the Scottish enlightenment was trying to achieve. This essay is a partial defense of the claim that Adam Smith’s sentimentalism deserves more attention as a moral theory. Relying on G.E.M. Anscombe’s “Modern Moral Philosophy”, which was influential for its criticisms of prevailing ethical theories and an important inspiration for the development of modern virtue ethics, I claim that Smith provides an ethical framework that meets her demands. Smith’s moral sentimentalism provides a firm psychological ground for virtue theory without sacrificing its merits as a proper ethical theory.