What is the impartial spectator?

Also called the “man within the breast,” the impartial spectator is a tool through which individuals divide themselves into the “judge” and “the judged” to examine their own conduct in an unbiased manner.

What role does Adam Smith’s impartial spectator have in our decision making?

The concept of an impartial spectator was first mentioned by Adam Smith in 1759 (Raphael 2007) . A perfectly impartial and well-informed spectator is an imaginary person that guides our decisions by virtually judging our actions according to common moral principles. …

What is the impartial spectator tool and why is it important for social scientists?

The impartial spectator is a tool for balance between our own interests and others’ interests. It serves as a reminder that both moral and economic considerations require more than myopia. Smith insists that we must step outside of ourselves to truly see the world.

What is moral compass person?

noun. an internalized set of values and objectives that guide a person with regard to ethical behavior and decision-making: a rebellious teenager without a moral compass.

What were Adam Smith’s beliefs?

Smith wanted people to practice thrift, hard work, and enlightened self-interest. He thought the practice of enlightened self-interest was natural for the majority of people. In his famous example, a butcher does not supply meat based on good-hearted intentions, but because he profits by selling meat.

What is Adam Smith’s observation?

In 1759 Smith published his first work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith saw humans as creatures driven by passions and at the same time self-regulated by their ability to reason and—no less important—by their capacity for sympathy. …

Who is the impartial spectator?

The impartial spectator is an imagined ‘man within the breast’ whose approbation or disapproval makes up our awareness of the nature of our own conduct. Smith is concerned to give an explanation of the voice of conscience, without departing totally from the sentimentalist and naturalistic tradition of Scottish moral philosophy.

Can Smith’s Impartial Spectator provide a standard of moral judgment?

And Smith certainly did aspire to provide such a standard of moral judgment, a structure for morality that reaches out across national and cultural borders. But is Smith’s impartial spectator capable of doing this? Consider two of its features. First, it uses sentiments rather than reason as the basis of its judgments.

Does heeding the impartial spectator conflict with our self-interest?

At the same time, to meet the full reflective endorsement test, Smith needs to show that heeding the impartial spectator does not, overall, conflict with our self-interest. In order to show this he tries, like many ancient ethicists, to get us to re-think the nature of self-interest.

How would things look to ‘any other fair and impartial spectator?

“The need to invoke how things would look to ‘any other fair and impartial spectator,’” says Sen, “is a requirement that can bring in judgments that would be made by disinterested people from other societies as well” (Sen 2009: 125).