Abstract

Richard van den Berg
 
Sensationism and the Moral Sentiments:  P.L. Roederer’s reading of Smith

The Cours d’organisation sociale, delivered in the first half of 1793 by Pierre-Louis Roederer (1754-1835), contains a detailed discussion of Smith’s system of sympathy. It is remarkable for its attempt to reconcile the Scotsman’s account of the nature of the moral sentiments to the principles of French sensationist thought. The moral sentiments, according to Roederer, are a non-deliberative mode of response separate from man’s calculative mode of self-interest. Both are however modifications of a more general principle of physical sensitivity. Far from being innate, the moral sentiments are the product of the dual processes of habit and imitation.