Sympathy, as pointed out by Smith, comes from placing ones self in a similar situation and imaging the feeling they are experiencing. Although we may not have been the same situation, we attempt to rationalize what is going on with another human. Humans tend to relate to other humans and sympathy is a piece of that. Humans want to share the same feelings even if we don't know what it exactly is they are going through. Smith says "...we have no immediate experience of what other men feel, we can form no idea of the manner in which they are affected, but by conceiving what we ourselves should feel in the like situation."(Online) depicting accuratley how exactly sympathy comes to be through our imagination.
Man kind as a whole works better off a compassion, gentleness, and good manners rather then ill-intended and malicious actions. Hume makes a valid point arguing that a society with respect and admiration is far more enjoyable. Respect and admiration lead to competition which can also be beneficial to humanity as all humans have some degree of jealousy about them. This can lead to increased ambition and drive to do more then and individual might otherwise do. In reality groups from and this does not always occur. These cliques look to benefit themselves and those who are around them with little regard for those that are around.
"Online Library of Liberty." Online Library of Liberty. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.
This is a much more optimistic assessment than your earlier blog post. I wonder: did something change between the two? Are you here expressing your own views, or just summarizing Smith? Or were you earlier summarizing Mandeville, but not expressing your own views? Or is it simply a question of different views being appropriate at different times?
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