2. What is the 'impartial observer' and how does that person differ from the
person exploring sentiments?
According to
Smith, morality finds its basis in the society’s accepted norms. The impartial
observer is the imagined individual consulted by someone attempting to assess
the morality of their actions. They are the embodiment of the existing social
norms and are separated from the conditions of the person whose behavior is in
question. The impartial spectator’s distance from the situation enables them to
accurately judge whether society would approve or disapprove the person’s
actions in a way that person would be incapable of doing for themself. The
person whose actions are being considered is too biased to trust their own
judgment, thus necessitating the consultation of the impartial spectator. Of
course, the impartial spectator is not a real individual whose guidance can be
sought. Rather, the impartial spectator represents the part of the actor’s
deliberative process after their recognition that their judgment is unreliable
in which they consider how society would view their actions.
Emily gives a great summary of the role of the impartial observer. In addition, I'd like to talk about the problems that arise when implementing Smith's method for determining what is moral in practice.
ReplyDeleteOne issue with basing your morality on social norms is that you have to determine which society's norms to use. Do you behave based on what is accepted within your group of friends, what is typical at your school, what is standard within your region or country, or even based on what is most common worldwide? The last is a possibility in today's connected world that didn't exist in Mill's.
A second, related issue is how to determine impartiality on a contentious issue. This is even more difficult now that we are connected with people with a wide range of perspectives, from all over the country or world. For instance, imagine a woman trying to decide whether to get an abortion. I suspect that at least within America the vast majority of people have a strong opinion one way or the other whether an abortion is morally acceptable. So how can you imagine an impartial person? Perhaps to be practical we have to weigh the opinions of those close to us, family and friends, more heavily than those of a generic person in our community.