The Theory of Moral Sentiments / Or, an Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principles by Which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves. to Which Is Added, a Dissertation on the Origin of Languages.

The work argues that moral judgments arise from human sympathy, which enables people to imagine others' feelings and to assess the propriety of actions. It analyzes how approbation and disapprobation create notions of merit and demerit, linking praise to gratitude and blame to resentment. An impartial spectator functions as an internal standard mediating self‑judgment and social evaluation. The author differentiates amiable and respectable virtues and classifies passions as bodily, imaginative, unsocial, social, and selfish, showing how they shape moral appraisal. Chapters examine how prosperity, adversity, and fortune alter public approval and how justice and beneficence become objects of reward and punishment. An appended dissertation considers the origin of language.