
Reimagining Sympathy, Recognizing Difference
Insights from Adam Smith
Millicent Churcher(Author)
Rowman & Littlefield International (Publisher)
Published on 15. November 2019
Book
Hardback
218 pages
978-1-78660-944-1 (ISBN)
Description
Contemporary societies are marked by deep inequalities grounded in collective failures to recognize the histories, needs, and experiences of marginalized social groups. What are the strategies that can help individuals become more responsive to social realities and perspectives that differ significantly from their own?
In Reimagining Sympathy,Recognizing Difference: Insights from Adam Smith, Millicent Churcherattends to recent debates over the imagination as a resource for social and political reform, and highlights the central relevance of Adam Smith's voice to these debates. Smith, best known for his work on economics, may seem an unlikely figure to draw upon in this context. However, his nuanced account of 'sympathy'-conceived as an imaginative and reflective capacity that develops within and through social experience-greatly enriches the role of imagination in fostering mutual understanding and solidarity among a diverse citizenry.
Churcher critically explores and extends Smith's view that if sympathy is to bind people together across their differences rather than divide them, it requires work at the level of individual practice, as well as the support of wider social structures. By drawing Smith into conversation with contemporary debates in social and political theory, this monograph addresses the pressing question of what is required from individuals and institutionsto remedy abject failures to recognize and respond ethically to difference.
In Reimagining Sympathy,Recognizing Difference: Insights from Adam Smith, Millicent Churcherattends to recent debates over the imagination as a resource for social and political reform, and highlights the central relevance of Adam Smith's voice to these debates. Smith, best known for his work on economics, may seem an unlikely figure to draw upon in this context. However, his nuanced account of 'sympathy'-conceived as an imaginative and reflective capacity that develops within and through social experience-greatly enriches the role of imagination in fostering mutual understanding and solidarity among a diverse citizenry.
Churcher critically explores and extends Smith's view that if sympathy is to bind people together across their differences rather than divide them, it requires work at the level of individual practice, as well as the support of wider social structures. By drawing Smith into conversation with contemporary debates in social and political theory, this monograph addresses the pressing question of what is required from individuals and institutionsto remedy abject failures to recognize and respond ethically to difference.
Reviews / Votes
In this book, Millicent Churcher engages with Australasian thinkers, bringing them into dialogue with social epistemology and critical race theory. This book also performs an important theoretical role of bringing into contact recent works on social imagination with their historical forebear, Adam Smith. -- Joanne Faulkner, ARC Future Fellow in Cultural Studies, Macquarie University This timely book is a strong contribution to recent and ongoing discussions in political philosophy concerning the role of emotions and the imagination in issues of justice (including communicative and epistemic justice), recognition, social peace, identity/difference and equality. -- Jose Medina, Walter Dill Scott Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University This distinctive intervention features studies on the continuing oppression of First Nations in Australia, and a unique interpretation of Smithian virtues. -- J SmithMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: From College Senior to College Graduate Student
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
511 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78660-944-1 (9781786609441)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2019
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield International
€124.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2019
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
€124.99
Available for download
Person
Millicent Churcher is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney. Millicent's research interests include the early modern sentimentalist philosophy of David Hume and Adam Smith, as well as contemporary studies on empathy, emotions, social imaginaries, epistemic injustice, and the (mis)recognition of difference. She has published work on these topics in Social Epistemology and Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review. Millicent's latest research focuses on how institutions may constructively engage the imaginations and affects of social agents to facilitate ethical and political transformation.
Content
Introduction / 1. Transformative Imaginings: (Mis)Recognition and the Social
Imaginary / 2. 'The Secret Chain': Adam Smith on Sympathy / 3. Failures of the Sympathetic Imagination / 4. Sympathy Reclaimed? Overcoming the Limits of the Sympathetic Imagination / 5. 'A Happy Commerce of the Passions': Sympathy, Sociability, and Institutions
Imaginary / 2. 'The Secret Chain': Adam Smith on Sympathy / 3. Failures of the Sympathetic Imagination / 4. Sympathy Reclaimed? Overcoming the Limits of the Sympathetic Imagination / 5. 'A Happy Commerce of the Passions': Sympathy, Sociability, and Institutions