Beyond Self-Interest and Altruism: <i>A Reconstruction of Adam Smith's Theory of Human Conduct</i>

Abstract

I attempt a reconstruction of Adam Smith's view of human nature as explicated in The Theory of Moral Sentiments ( TMS ). Smith's view of human conduct is neither functionalist nor reductionist, but interactionist. The moral autonomy of the individual, conscience, is neither made a function of public approval nor reduced to self-contained impulses of altruism and egoism. Smith does not see human conduct as a blend of independently defined impulses. Rather, conduct is unified, by the underpinning sentiment of sympathy.