Part I. General Introduction.- Chapter 1. Research questions, aims and expected results.- 1.1. A philosophical problem: research questions and aims.- 1.
2. Book structure and expected results.- Chapter 2. Methodological remarks.- 2.1. A methodology between reconstruction and interpretation.- 2.
1.1. A focus on Adam Smith's style.- 2.2. Adam Smith's articulation of the concept of 'human being'.- 2.3.
Thematic contexts of Smith's elaboration of the concept of the human being.- 2.4. A moral glossary on Smith's conception of human beings: merit, virtue and propriety.- Chapter 3. Adam Smith's historical and biographical context.- 3.1.
A sketch of Adam Smith's historical framework.- 3.2. Biographical outline of Adam Smith.- Part II. Adam Smith On Nature And Human Nature.- Chapter 4. A semantic overview of 'nature' and 'natural' in Adam Smith's moral philosophy.
- 1.1. Nature, human nature and morality.- 1.2. Conclusion.- Chapter 5. A synthesis of Adam Smith's conception of human nature.
- 2.1. Introduction.- 2.2. Sources and theoretical contexts of Adam Smith's moral conception of human nature.- 2.3.
Sociability, the role of language and the human propensity to exchange.- 2.4. Human nature, harmony and society.- 2.5. Human nature and morality: Adam Smith's conception of self-love.- 2.
6. Harmony between oneself and the others in Adam Smith's moral philosophy: the desire to better one's condition and the desire to gain deserved approval.- 2.6.1. Some reflections on the role of happiness in Adam Smith's moral philosophy.- 2.7.
Conclusion.- Part III. The Origin And Development Of The Self In Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy: History And Natural Self Correction.- Chapter 6. Philosophy of history, morality and human beings.- 1.1. Adam Smith's philosophy of history: conjectural history and four-stage theory.
- 1.1.1. History and human nature.- 1.2. Historical context and the self: Adam Smith's conception of the savage.- 1.
3. Conclusion.- Chapter 7. Natural self correction and human beings.- 2.1. Natural self correction and morality: infancy, sympathy and self-development.- 2.
2. A focus on the psychological origin of the self.- 2.3. Conclusion.- Part IV. Adam Smith's Model Of The Mind: Sympathy, Imagination, The Impartial Spectator And Immediacy.- Chapter 8.
Perfect and imperfect sympathy in Adam Smith's moral philosophy.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. Passions in Adam Smith's moral philosophy.- 1.
2.1. The immediate dimension of passions.- 1.3. Natural and moral imagination.- 1.4.
Perfect and imperfect sympathy.- 1.5. The terminological shades of sympathy.- 1.6. Conclusion.- Chapter 9.
Immediacy as philosophical problem in Adam Smith's moral theory.- 2.1. Introduction.- 2.2. Imagination, human nature and perception.- 2.
2.1. Imagination, harmony and aesthetics.- 2.3. Pleasure and pain in Adam Smith's moral philosophy.- 2.4.
Harmony, imagination and the impartial spectator.- 2.5. Prudence, the impartial spectator and immediacy.- 2.6. The origin and expression of moral judgment: the impartial spectator and immediacy.- 2.
7. Conclusion.- Conclusions.