Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Theory of Moral Sentiments

  • By: Adam Smith
  • Narrated by: Michael Lunts
  • Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

By: Adam Smith
Narrated by: Michael Lunts
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £26.99

Buy Now for £26.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

‘How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.’

So begins The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), the first major text by Adam Smith, who, seven years later, was to publish what was to become one of the major economic classics, The Wealth of Nations (1776). However, Smith regarded The Theory of Moral Sentiments as his most important work because in it he identified the profound human instinct to act not necessarily in self-interest but through, as he phrased it, a ‘mutual sympathy of sentiments’.

The work is divided into seven parts, starting with Part 1: Of the Propriety of Action, in which Smith proposes the idea that ‘Sympathy’ can underlie human actions towards others, prompted by various emotions, be it perception of misfortune in others or simply ‘the pleasure of mutual sympathy’. Other parts include ‘Of the Effect of Utility upon the Sentiment of Approbation’, ‘Of the Character of Virtue’ and finally ‘Of Systems of Moral Philosophy’.

In this concluding section, Smith considers the views of other philosophers, including Epicurus, Zeno, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Hobbes, as well as the opinions of his mentor, Dr Francis Hutchison, an important influence. In short, Smith proposes that man’s sense of morality is interwoven with social instincts as much as reason or self-interest. Sympathy - the contemporary word we would use is empathy - is a universal and strongly held emotion in mankind, he says, imbued with virtue, prudence, justice and beneficence. The Theory of Moral Sentiments was, and remains, a milestone in Western philosophy.

Public Domain (P)2018 Ukemi Productions Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Wealth of Nations cover art
Utilitarianism/On Liberty cover art
Conjectures and Refutations cover art
The Open Society and Its Enemies cover art
The Vicar of Wakefield cover art
Human Action cover art
The Myth of the Framework cover art
I Am a Strange Loop cover art
Northanger Abbey & The History of England and Persuasion & Poems cover art
Agnes Grey cover art
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding cover art
Life and Adventures of Jack Engle cover art
Parfit cover art
A Secular Age cover art
Maps of Meaning cover art
Middlemarch cover art

What listeners say about The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

superbly read version Smith's best book

The Wealth of Nations has often been misinterpreted and applied to a conspiracy of selfishness by the worst people. When read with the coda of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, however, the Trevelyans of this world fade away. In their place, this rich, full understanding of the rational and religious individual decency which Smith argues is essential for a society or market to function is revealed. The prose is beautiful, and beautifully read and - completely unexpectedly- there are also a small number of 'laugh out loud' jokes and observations embedded in the oddest of places in the text. This edition is thoroughly to be recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!