Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

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

different classes of objects there were some which appeared to be more the objects either of choice or rejection than others in the same class. Thus in the first class health appeared evidently preferable to strength, and strength to agility; reputation to power and power to riches. And thus too, in the second class, sickness was more to be avoided than unweil|deness of body, ignominy than poverty, and poverty than the want of authority. Virtue and the propriety of conduct consisted in choosing and rejecting all different objects and circumstances according as they were by nature rendered more or less the objects of choice or rejection; in selecting always from among the several objects of choice which were presented to us, that which was most to be chosen, when we could not obtain them all: and in selecting too out of the several objects of rejection which might ••e offered to us, that which was least to be avoided when it was not in our power to avoid them all. By choosing and rejecting with this just and accurate discernment, by thus bestowing upon every object the precise de|gree of attention that was due to it, accord|ing to the place which it held in this natural scale of things, we maintained, according to the
/ 545
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page Image - Page 431 Plain Text - Page 431

About this Item

Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 431
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/k111361.0001.001/424

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 13, 2025.
Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.