Adam Smith on the irregularity of moral sentiment

Abstract

Smith proposed an equitable maxim requiring that our moral sentiments of merit and demerit should be based on the expected consequence of the action. But in practice, these sentiments vary with the actual consequence. Smith called this ‘irregularity of moral sentiment (hereafter IS)’. In this paper I would like to suggest Smith's possible explanation and justification of IS in reference to the contemporary debates on moral luck and responsibility. Smith can explain IS in terms of epistemic value of consequence of action. Smith's justifications of IS are based on the practice of atonement and the agent's guilt feeling, which admit of both consequential and non-consequential interpretations.