Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
The effect of utility upon the sentiment of approbation: The in?uence of custom and fashion upon the sentiments of moral approbation and disapprobation And, lastly, The character of virtue. To these were added, a brief view of the different systems of ancient and modern philosophy, which is universally acknowledged to be the most candid and luminous that has yet appeared.
This Essay soon attracted a great share of the public atten tion, by the ingenuity of the reasonings, and the perspicuity with which they were displayed. The principle on which it is founded may he said to be, That the primary objects of our moral perceptions are the actions of other men; and that our moral judgments, with respect to our own conduct, are only applications to ourselves of decisions which we have alread passed on the conduct of others. With this doctrine the author thin is all the most celebrated theories of morality coincide in part, and from some partial view of it he apprehends they are all de rived. To the same work was subjoined a short treatise on the first formation of language, and considerations on the dieerent genius of those which were original and compounded.
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