Abstract

Arby Ted Siraki

Adam Smith’s Theory of Tragedy

The problem of tragedy, that is, why spectators derive pleasure from viewing distressing scenes, occupied the thoughts of many eighteenth-century theorists.  Adam Smith, however, seems to have ignored this topic.  Given his interest in aesthetic and theatrical matters, it does seem odd that Smith did not contribute at all to this burning eighteenth-century debate.  Despite this, I argue that we do have Smith’s solution to the problem of tragedy, but not explicitly stated: we must turn to The Theory of Moral Sentiments and construct one (like Smith, Thomas Hobbes never wrote directly on tragedy, but this has not prevented posterity from constructing a “Hobbesian” tragic theory).  This paper will describe Smith’s solution to the problem and situate it in the context of the eighteenth-century debate.