Adam Smith and the Problem of Parochialism: Can the Impartial Spectator Engage in Social Critique?

Abstract

In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith offers an account of moral judgment centered around impartial spectatorship and the human conscience. For Smith, it is our consciences that we turn to when making moral judgments. However, some philosophers argue that our consciences make for poor judges of morality. Our consciences are shaped by socialization, and insofar as we socialize with biased and prejudiced people, our consciences may be similarly biased and prejudiced. I will argue that Smith’s account of the human conscience is not nearly as vulnerable to this problem as one might initially think. Because our consciences are influenced by socialization—including socialization with outsiders—we can revise our moral judgments in ways that allow us to overcome our parochial biases and prejudices.

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A Richardson
Kwantlen Polytechnic University

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References found in this work

The idea of justice.Amartya Sen - 2009 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments.Adam Smith - 1759 - Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. Edited by Elizabeth Schmidt Radcliffe, Richard McCarty, Fritz Allhoff & Anand Vaidya.
Open and Closed Impartiality.Amartya Sen - 2002 - Journal of Philosophy 99 (9):445.
Adam Smith and cultural relativism.Samuel Fleischacker - 2011 - Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 4 (2):20.

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