Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...

••mpossible to resist, should throw down his ••nfant because it retarded his flight, would ••urely be excusable; since by attempting to ••ave it he could only hope for the consolation ••f dying along with it. That in this state of ••ociety, therefore, a parent should be allowed ••o judge whether he can bring up his child, ••ught not to surprize us so greatly. In the ••atter ages of Greece, however, the same ••hing was permitted from views of remote in|••erest or conveniency which could by no ••eans excuse it. Uninterrupted custom had ••y this time so thoroughly authorized the ••ractice, that not only the loose maxims of ••he world tollerated this barbarous preroga|••••ve, but even the doctrine of philosophers, which ought to have been more just and ac|••urate, was led away by the established cus|••om, and upon this as upon many other occa|••••ons, instead of censuring, supported the ••orrible abuse by far fetched considerations of ••ublick utility. Aristotle talks of it as of ••hat the magistrate ought upon many occa|••••ons to encourage. The humane Plato is of ••he same opinion, and, with all that love of ••ankind which seems to animate all his writ|••••gs, no where marks this practice with dis|••••probation. When custom can give sancti|on
/ 545
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page Image - Page 411 Plain Text - Page 411

About this Item

Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 411
Publication
London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,
1759.

Technical Details

Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001
Link to this scan
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001/404

Rights and Permissions

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Eighteenth Century Collections Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading ECCO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this text, in whole or in part. Please contact project staff at eccotcp-info.edu for further information or permissions.

Related Links

Manifest
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/eccodemo:k111361.0001.001

Cite this Item

Full citation
"The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ..." In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.