Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

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

in many other respects. In every case, he pretends, it falls short of that compleat self-denial which it pretends to, and, instead of a conquest, is commonly no more than a con|cealed indulgence of our passions. Wherever our reserve with regard to pleasure▪ falls short of the most ascetic abstinence, he treats it as gross luxury and sensuality. Every thing, ac|cording to him, is luxury which exceeds what is absolutely necessary for the support of hu|man nature, so that there is vice even in the use of a clean shirt, or of a convenient habi|tation. The indulgence of the inclination to sex, in the most lawful union, he considers as the same sensuality with the most hurtful gratifi|cation of that passion, and derides that tem|perance and that chastity which can be prac|tised at so cheap a rate. The ingenious so|phistry of his reasoning, is here, as upon many other occasions, covered by the ambi|guity of language. There are some of our passions which have no other names except those which mark the disagreeable and offen|sive degree. The spectator is more apt to take notice of them in this degree than in any other. When they shock his own sentiments, when they give him some sort of antipathy and uneasiness, he is necessarily obliged to at|tend
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Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 483
Publication
London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,
1759.

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"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.
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