ABSTRACT
No reader of The Theory of Moral Sentiments can overlook the sympathy mechanism which is presented with force and clarity at the very beginning of the book. It establishes a central theme in the long reflections that follow about the conflict between the ethical obligations emanating from the impartial spectator and the behaviour suggested by a set of more conventional moral injunctions. Adam Smith’s remarks about the sympathy mechanism are straightforward and precise. This, however, does not mean that their implications – in particular their implications for the development of an autonomous theory of economic behaviour with scientific aspirations – have always been fully grasped.1
