Mandeville believes that we truly do not sympathize with others.
He’s the dark horse that believes everything humanity does is out of
self-interest that we’re all playing this “getting ahead” game, doing whatever
it takes to put ourselves in the best possible position. Mandeville would say
that one would pretend to have sympathy for another in order to advance their
self-image. What I found strikingly interesting was Smith’s reaction to
sympathy. In his writing “Of Sympathy” he explains the reason humans share
pity. “As we have no immediate experience of what other man feel, we can form
no idea of the manner in which they are affected, but by conceiving what we
ourselves should feel in the like situation” (Smith). The reason we have
sympathy is not because of passion but because we see ourselves in similar
situations (Smith). I found it extremely interesting when Smith said that
sympathy does not arise from passion as that view is in a way a preconceived
notion of the public. Smith even goes into how we sympathize with the dead. How
can we sympathize with a feeling that no one on this Earth can actually
describe? Well for starters we use our imaginations. We picture the darkness,
lack of warmth, etc. The bottom line is that we do not like to see people in pain
because us ourselves do not enjoy similar experiences.
The imagination in regards to death brings Smith to his last
point, humanity’s fear of mortality. Smith describes human’s dread of death as
the most important principle of human nature. He says each individual’s fear of
death protects the society as a whole. While reading this, I had to take a
moment to really let what he was saying sink in. Society, the justice system in
particular, is built around the idea of keeping people safe. It is ironic that our
biggest fear is the driving force around a structured safe society. In a
backwards way our society is based of the sympathy that derives from our own imaginations.
Smith,
Adam. "Of Sympathy." Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and
Correspondence Vol. 1 The Theory of Moral Sentiments [1759] (1759): n. pag.
Print.
Michala,
ReplyDeleteThat is very well put. I actually hadn't put much thought in the point that you made however around how society's laws in some ways can be traced back to our fear of death. As in how every law made usually is intended for the survival of someone so they won't be cheated from life. Granted I believe that some laws do cheat some from the virtues of life, but a lot of times for the benefit of others.
The whole notion of passion is an interesting one: is he saying that we sympathize because of our imagination combined with our emotions, by projecting those emotions? Or is it a combination of feeling for another person and feeling for ourselves? There is an important difference between the two, because one is possible without benevolence, whereas the other requires it. This might mark an important difference from Hutcheson. These are, indeed, good points, but do link them to readings from the current week in the future. I use the blogs in part to determine how well folks are keeping up with the reading. I can see from the quiz this week that you are doing that well, but it's good to have as much indication as possible.
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