DOI
10.1080/0967256042000246502
Abstract
The paper explicates the utilitarian principle of sympathy in terms of the shape of what has been called the ‘sympathetic gradient’, which determines the allocation of goods to those close by and afar. It examines challenges to the utilitarian impartial weighting scheme that emerged in the literary community, and from evolutionary biology. As sympathy came to be seen as an impediment to evolutionary perfection, voices urged that sympathy be suppressed. Darwin's Descent of Man explicitly countenanced the suppression of sympathy in a trade-off of happiness for the perfection of the race. A post-Darwinian argument concerning a different capacity for pleasure accompanied the demise of sympathy in utilitarian economic analysis. Utilitarians then moved from the early presumption of ‘everyone to count for one’ to counting ‘every equal increment of pleasure’ equally.
Document Type
Restricted Article: Campus only access
Publication Date
2-17-2007
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2007, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0967256042000246502
The definitive version is available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0967256042000246502
Recommended Citation
Peart, S. J., & Levy, D. M. (2004). Sympathy and its discontents: ‘Greatest happiness’ versus the ‘general good.’ The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 11(3), 453–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/0967256042000246502
