13 h 9 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 9 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Why do you feel guilt when no one is watching, or care about a stranger’s sorrow?
In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith explores how ordinary people judge right and wrong. He begins with sympathy: the human habit of imagining ourselves in another person’s place. From that simple act, he builds an account of conscience, justice, duty and virtue. The question is close to home: how can selfish people also care deeply about others?
Smith introduces the impartial spectator, an imagined judge within us who helps us examine our conduct. But our judgment is not always fair. We admire wealth too readily, struggle to share another person’s sorrow, and deceive ourselves about our own motives. Smith asks what keeps these weaknesses in check, and why justice matters more than kindness.
What you’ll discover
- Sympathy starts with imagination Explore how stepping into another person’s place becomes the foundation of moral feeling.
- The judge within Meet the impartial spectator and consider how you judge your own conduct.
- Wealth bends our sympathy Examine why sharing joy comes more easily than sharing sorrow, and why riches attract admiration.
- Justice before kindness Follow Smith’s distinction between good deeds that deserve gratitude and the demands of justice.
- A fuller picture of virtue Consider how prudence, justice, kindness and self-command shape the character of a virtuous person.
Who will love it
This is for readers who enjoy watching a sharp mind explain ordinary feelings, such as pity, pride, envy and shame. It suits anyone curious about conscience, fairness and the roots of economics in human nature.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- We feel for others by imagining their place
- Shared feeling pleases us and becomes our measure
- Self-command and fellow feeling make two kinds of virtue
- Each passion has its own fitting degree
- Ambition rests on wanting to be noticed
- Justice holds up society while kindness decorates it
- Fortune sways our judgments of merit and blame
- The impartial spectator is our inner judge
- Usefulness, custom and fashion shape our tastes
- Rival moral systems each hold a piece of truth
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Teoria dei sentimenti morali
by Adam Smith · 1759
Adam Smith explains why you wince when a stranger is hurt by imagining yourself in that person's situation.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
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In short
You flinch when you see a blow about to land on a stranger's arm. You wince for a tightrope walker who sways on his rope.
Teoria dei sentimenti morali in breve
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 7 h 15 min5 h 45 min fast, 8 h 35 min slow
- Durata
- 103.200 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Impegnativo long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1759by Adam Smith
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
We feel for others by imagining their place
Smith opens with a claim about human nature. However selfish people may be, some principles in them make the fortunes of others matter to them. Pity is the plainest example, and even hardened criminals are not free of it.
We have no direct access to what another person feels. Our senses never take us beyond ourselves. So imagination shows us what we would feel in his position. We pull back our own arm when we see a blow aimed at someone else's. Spectators twist their bodies along with a rope dancer. People with delicate nerves feel an itch when they look at a beggar's sores.
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Quale edizione fa per me
- 15-minute summary
- Le idee principali dell’intero libro in circa 14 minuti. Per un primo sguardo o per rinfrescare la memoria.
Dettagli
- First published
- 1759
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 8 h 30 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cita questa edizione
Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments.
Smith, A. (2026). The theory of moral sentiments. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments (Original work published 1759)
Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments.
@book{smith2026theory,
author = {Smith, Adam},
title = {The Theory of Moral Sentiments},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments},
note = {First published 1759}
}
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What is The Theory of Moral Sentiments about?
It explains how people form ideas of right and wrong. Smith argues that sympathy, our imaginative sharing of other people's feelings, shapes our approval of conduct, our sense of justice and merit, and the inner judge we call conscience.
What does Adam Smith mean by the impartial spectator?
The impartial spectator is an imagined fair observer inside us. We picture how a neutral, well-informed person would view our actions, and that picture lets us judge ourselves apart from flattery, blame or self-love.
How does this book relate to The Wealth of Nations?
Smith wrote this book first, and he kept revising it later in life. It describes the human feelings and moral habits that sit behind his economic ideas, including self-interest, ambition and justice, and it contains the invisible hand image.
The author
Adam Smith
1723–1790 · Scottish economist and moral philosopher
Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a leading light of the Enlightenment, best known as the founder of modern economics. The Wealth of Nations set out his account of markets, labor, and the famous 'invisible hand.'
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