Sophie de Grouchy and the Recovery Project: Her Originality and Contribution to Philosophy

Abstract

Abstract In 1798 Sophie de Grouchy (1764–1822) appended her eight Lettres sur la sympathie to her translation of Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In recent years her Lettres have attracted considerable scholarly attention, but interpretative errors, resulting from considering selections in isolation, have slipped into readings of de Grouchy’s work that undermine her originality and the unity of her views regarding ethical theory. The purpose of this paper is to correct prior readings and to properly recover Sophie de Grouchy’s voice for the philosophical canon. Topics include the origin of sympathy, the significance of pleasure and pain in de Grouchy, sympathy and social relations, the role of reason and sentiments in our moral disposition, and mislabeling de Grouchy’s philosophy. In all, de Grouchy grounds her complex ethics and political philosophy in sympathy, reason, reflection, and human dependency in an overarching vision of humanity that is hopeful and optimistic.