ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a significant component of Smith's moral theory in the light of current research in psychoanalysis and human development. For Smith, sympathy is the distinctly human capacity that allows people to experience each other. Morality is co-created through an interactive sympathetic process. Within psychoanalytic theory and practice, projection is the technical term that is used to denote the 'projecting' of one's own inner contents upon or into another. As psychoanalytic work has progressed, the recognition of empathetic understanding playing an important role in human development and in psychotherapeutic relationships has grown. Bolognini (2004) laid out an excellent review of the history and development of empathy within the evolution of psychoanalytic theory and practice. Morality includes the concepts of fairness, justice, and rights, as well as maxims regarding interpersonal relationships. The chapter presents a brief review on the normal development of empathy. Hoffman (2000) describes relations between anger, guilt and feelings of injustice.
