No 73 (2025): Número en curso
Artículos

Possibilities for a Relational Theory of Autonomy for Care Ethics: Adam Smith on Self-Interest and the Social Formation of Morality

PDF (Anglais)
  • Bárbara Symmes Avendaño
Bárbara Symmes Avendaño
Universidad de Los Andes, Chile

Publiée 2025-08-01

Mots-clés

  • ethics,
  • care ethics,
  • Adam Smith,
  • autonomy,
  • sympathy,
  • self-interest,
  • relational autonomy,
  • Carol Gilligan,
  • justice,
  • individual rights
    • ...Plus
    Moins

(c) Copyright Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía 2025

Creative Commons License

Ce travail est disponible sous licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International.

Comment citer

Symmes Avendaño, B. (2025). Possibilities for a Relational Theory of Autonomy for Care Ethics: Adam Smith on Self-Interest and the Social Formation of Morality. Tópicos, Revista De Filosofía, 73, 77-103. https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v730.3079
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Résumé

While Smith does not explicitly refer to autonomy, it has been argued that in the Smithean individual there is a place for agency and self-determination, as portrayed in the Theory of Moral Sentiments. In this paper, I contend that the Smithian perspective on moral action encompasses self-interest and a relational perspective of the formation of morality as integral components of autonomy. This conceptualization bears resemblance to the notion of relational autonomy as expounded in care ethics. In Smith’s framework, morality is a product of societal interactions facilitated by the sympathetic process and the impartial spectator, that lead individuals to emerge as moral subjects. The interplay of sympathy, self-interest, society, and the conception of the individual as delineated in TMS could provide a robust foundation for a theory of relational autonomy that integrates the social, as care ethics proposes, and that does not sacrifice justice and individual rights.

PDF (Anglais)

Références

  1. Ainsworth, M. & Bowlby, J. (1991). An Ethological Approach to Personality Development. American Psychologist, 46(4), 333-341. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.4.333
  2. Baier, A. (1985). Postures of the Mind: Essays on Mind and Morals. University of Minnesota Press.
  3. Barry, B. M. (1975). The Liberal Theory of Justice: A Critical Examination of the Principal Doctrines in “A Theory of Justice” by John Rawls. Clarendon Press.
  4. Carrasco, M. A. (2012). Adam Smith: Self-Command, Practical Reason and Deontological Insights. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 20(2), 391-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2012.665351
  5. Carrasco, M. A. (2024). Individualismo simpatético: justicia y cuidado en el liberalismo de Adam Smith. Estudios Públicos, 2, 193-212. https://doi.org/10.38178/07183089/1442240502.
  6. Christman, J. (2020). Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy. In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/autonomy-moral/>
  7. Cuevas Moreno, R. (2009). La ética y economía en la obra de Adam Smith. La visión moral del capitalismo. Primera parte. Ciencia y Sociedad, 35(1), 52-79. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/870/87014565003.pdf
  8. Darwall, S. (1998). Empathy, Sympathy, Care. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 89(2/3), 261-282. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004289113917
  9. Edwards, S. (2023). The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.112152
  10. Fleischacker, S. (2019). Being Me Being You: Adam Smith and Empathy. The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226661926.001.0001
  11. Forman-Barzilai, F. (2010). Adam Smith and the Circles of Sympathy: Cosmopolitanism and Moral Theory. Cambridge University Press.
  12. Frankfurt, H. G. (1971). Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person. The Journal of Philosophy, 68(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.2307/2024717
  13. Friedman, M. (2008). Care Ethics and Moral Theory [Review of The Ethics of Care, by Virginia Held]. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 77(2), 539-55. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2008.00205.x
  14. Gilligan, C. (2003). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Harvard University Press.
  15. Griswold, C. L. (1999). Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511608964
  16. Held, V. (2006). The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0195180992.001.0001
  17. Held, V. (2014). The Ethics of Care as Normative Guidance: Comment on Gilligan. Journal of Social Philosophy, 45(1), 107-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12051
  18. Herzog, L. (2016). Adam Smith and Modern Ethics. In R. Hanley (ed.), Adam Smith. His Life, Thought and Legacy (pp. 340-353). Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77g77.25
  19. Hurtado, J. (2016). Adam Smith’s Impartial Spectator: Autonomy and Extended Selves. Econ Journal Watch, 13(2), 298-305. https://econjwatch.org/articles/adam-smith-s-impartial-spectator-autonomy-and-extended-selves
  20. Keller, J. (1997). Autonomy, Relationality and Feminist Ethics. Hypatia, 12(2), 152-164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00024.x
  21. Kopajtij, L. (2020). Adam Smith’s Sentimentalist Conception of Self-Command. In F. Forman (ed.), The Adam Smith Review. Volume 12 (pp. 7-27). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003056744-3
  22. Mackenzie, C. & Stoljar, N. (2000). Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195123333.001.0001
  23. Meyers, D. T. (1989). Self, Society, and Personal Choice. Columbia University Press.
  24. Noddings, Nel. (2013). Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. University of California Press.
  25. Raphael, D. D. & A. L. Macfie. (1982). Introduction. In A. Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (pp. 1-52). Liberty Classics.
  26. Smith, A. (1981a). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Volume I. R. H. Campbell & A. S. Skinner (eds.). Liberty Classics.
  27. Smith, A. (1981b). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Volume II. R. H. Campbell & A. S. Skinner (eds.). Liberty Classics.
  28. Smith, A. (1982). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. D. D. Raphael & A. L. Macfie (eds.). Liberty Classics.