The Theory of Moral Sentiments
E30267
The Theory of Moral Sentiments is Adam Smith’s foundational philosophical work that explores the origins of human morality, sympathy, and ethical judgment.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Theory of Moral Sentiments canonical | 7 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T235622 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Theory of Moral Sentiments Context triple: [Adam Smith, notableWork, The Theory of Moral Sentiments]
-
A.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is a philosophical work by David Hume that develops his influential account of morality as grounded in human sentiment rather than reason alone.
-
B.
Essays, Moral and Political
Essays, Moral and Political is an early collection of philosophical writings by David Hume that explores topics in ethics, politics, and human nature, helping to establish his reputation as a leading Enlightenment thinker.
-
C.
The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations is Adam Smith’s foundational 1776 treatise on economics that laid the groundwork for classical free-market theory and modern economic thought.
-
D.
On Human Nature
On Human Nature is a landmark 1978 book by biologist Edward O. Wilson that explores the biological and evolutionary foundations of human behavior and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
-
E.
The Conduct of Life
The Conduct of Life is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson that explores practical and philosophical questions about how to live ethically and purposefully in the modern world.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Theory of Moral Sentiments Target entity description: The Theory of Moral Sentiments is Adam Smith’s foundational philosophical work that explores the origins of human morality, sympathy, and ethical judgment.
-
A.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is a philosophical work by David Hume that develops his influential account of morality as grounded in human sentiment rather than reason alone.
-
B.
Essays, Moral and Political
Essays, Moral and Political is an early collection of philosophical writings by David Hume that explores topics in ethics, politics, and human nature, helping to establish his reputation as a leading Enlightenment thinker.
-
C.
The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations is Adam Smith’s foundational 1776 treatise on economics that laid the groundwork for classical free-market theory and modern economic thought.
-
D.
On Human Nature
On Human Nature is a landmark 1978 book by biologist Edward O. Wilson that explores the biological and evolutionary foundations of human behavior and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
-
E.
The Conduct of Life
The Conduct of Life is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson that explores practical and philosophical questions about how to live ethically and purposefully in the modern world.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
philosophical work ⓘ |
| addresses |
origin of moral approval and disapproval
ⓘ
relationship between self-interest and morality ⓘ role of social interaction in moral judgment ⓘ |
| author | Adam Smith ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | purely rationalist moral theories ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Scotland ⓘ |
| editionCount | multiple revised editions by Adam Smith ⓘ |
| emphasizes | role of sentiments in ethics ⓘ |
| followedBy |
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
ⓘ
linked to:
The Wealth of Nations
|
| genre |
ethics
ⓘ
moral philosophy ⓘ philosophy ⓘ |
| hasCommentaryBy |
intellectual historians
ⓘ
modern economists ⓘ moral philosophers ⓘ |
| influenced |
Scottish Enlightenment thought
ⓘ
The Wealth of Nations ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
impartial spectator
ⓘ
merit and demerit ⓘ propriety of actions ⓘ self-command ⓘ sympathy as basis of moral judgment ⓘ virtue as prudence, justice, and beneficence ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| lastEditionYear | 1790 ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
ethical judgment
ⓘ
moral psychology ⓘ moral sentiments ⓘ morality ⓘ sympathy ⓘ virtue ⓘ |
| movement | Scottish Enlightenment ⓘ |
| notableIdea |
distinction between praise and praiseworthiness
ⓘ
importance of propriety over consequences in everyday morality ⓘ moral norms emerging from mutual spectatorship ⓘ |
| partOf | Adam Smith’s overall moral and social philosophy ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool |
British moral philosophy
ⓘ
moral sentimentalism ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication |
Edinburgh
ⓘ
London ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| publicationDate | 1759 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell
ⓘ
Andrew Millar ⓘ |
| structure |
seven parts in the final edition
ⓘ
six parts in the first edition ⓘ |
| subtitle | An Essay towards an Analysis of the Principles by which Men Naturally Judge concerning the Conduct and Character, first of their Neighbours, and afterwards of Themselves ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Theory of Moral Sentiments Description of subject: The Theory of Moral Sentiments is Adam Smith’s foundational philosophical work that explores the origins of human morality, sympathy, and ethical judgment.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.