Introduction

'How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others.' Seventeen years before The Wealth of Nations Smith made his name with this book, which he himself always thought the more important of the two, revising it six times in his lifetime. Its centre is 'sympathy': by imagination we put ourselves in another's situation and feel what he feels, and from this our moral judgements arise. To judge our own conduct fairly we imagine within ourselves an 'impartial spectator' and look at ourselves through his eyes; this is conscience. Smith analyses the kinds of virtue and the pursuit of wealth and rank, showing that this pursuit, though often based on illusion, drives the progress of civilisation. Only by reading this book can one truly understand the author of The Wealth of Nations.