The oft-cited theatricality of Adam Smith's impartial spectator is contentious and rests on a generalized notion of theatre. This essay argues both that Smith, like his predecessors in sentimental moral philosophy, thought of spectatorship theatrically and that Smith's spectatorship framework is rooted in French neoclassical dramaturgy. Smith's formulation of sympathy in the Theory of Moral Sentiments bolsters this view, as does the correspondence between Smith's definition of impartiality and the neoclassical formal isolation of spectators from the interests of protagonists. These facets of spectatorship are the basis of an impersonal mode that prevails in Smith's social theory of morals.

中文翻译：

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道德情感剧场：新古典主义戏剧与亚当·斯密的公正旁观者

亚当·斯密中立的观众经常被引用的戏剧性是有争议的，它建立在一个普遍的戏剧概念之上。这篇文章认为，史密斯像他的感伤道德哲学的前辈一样，以戏剧方式思考观众，而且史密斯的观众框架植根于法国新古典主义戏剧。斯密在道德情操理论中对同情的表述支持了这一观点，正如斯密对公正的定义与新古典主义将观众与主人公的利益隔离开来的定义之间的对应关系一样。观众的这些方面是斯密的社会道德理论中盛行的非个人模式的基础。