The Theory of Moral Sentiments · Chapter
II: Of the Proper Objects of Gratitude and Resentment explained
This chapter defines the proper objects of gratitude and resentment as those that an impartial spectator would sympathize with.
What happens
This chapter defines the proper objects of gratitude and resentment as those that an impartial spectator would sympathize with. It explores how sympathy with the beneficiary's joy leads to approval of gratitude toward the benefactor, and how sympathy with the sufferer's distress leads to approval of resentment against the offender, even extending to an imaginary resentment on behalf of the dead, which grounds the natural law of retaliation.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Climax.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the dramatic climax because it crystallizes the core psychological crisis: the tension betw…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- The Impartial Spectator
The chapter repeatedly invokes the impartial spectator as the standard for determining the propriety of gratitude and resentment, emphasizing that these passions are approved when every indifferent bystander sympathizes with them.
- Sympathy as the Foundation of Moral Judgment
Sympathy is central to the analysis: we sympathize with the joy of the benefited person to animate gratitude, and with the distress of the injured to animate resentment, showing how sympathy underlies judgments of reward and punishment.
Key passages
“He, therefore, appears to deserve reward, who, to some person or persons, is the natural object of a gratitude which every human heart is disposed to beat time to, and thereby applaud: and he, on the other hand, appears to deserve punishment, who in the same manner is to some person or persons the natural object of a resentment which the breast of every reasonable man is ready to adopt and sympathize with.”
A person deserves reward if they are the natural target of a gratitude that everyone's heart naturally echoes and approves; a person deserves punishment if they are the natural target of a resentment that every reasonable person is ready to adopt and sympathize with.
This defines merit and demerit in terms of universal sympathy with gratitude or resentment.
“When we see one man oppressed or injured by another, the sympathy which we feel with the distress of the sufferer seems to serve only to animate our fellow-feeling with his resentment against the offender.”
When we witness one person being oppressed or injured by another, our sympathy with the victim's distress intensifies our shared resentment toward the wrongdoer.
Illustrates how sympathy with suffering fuels the approval of resentment and the desire for punishment.
“His blood, we think, calls aloud for vengeance. The very ashes of the dead seem to be disturbed at the thought that his injuries are to pass unrevenged.”
We imagine that the victim's blood cries out for vengeance, and even the ashes of the dead are disturbed if their injuries go unpunished.
Describes the powerful, instinctive sympathy with the imaginary resentment of the slain, grounding the law of retaliation.
