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Mat: 
 
how would you call a desire which 'comes with us from the womb' if not 'innate'? The fact
that it derives from sympathetic feelings implies that it is not a necessary theoretical
assumption for Smith's moral theory (sympathy and self-interest being enough). We may
agree to apply Ockam's razor to the term 'innate' as well and to avoid calling 'innate'
mental phenomena which can be explained in terms of others, but this is a question of
terminology and would not change very much the picture of Smith's thought. What I wanted
to point out is that self-interest is not enough by itself to explain human behaviour and
is context-dependent. I fell great sympathy with what Mohammad says and am glad that
philosophy students are more ready to appreciate that disciplinary borders are less sharp
and more mobile.
 
Tiziano Raffaelli 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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