Penser la pitié avec ou sans la sympathie (Hobbes, Rousseau, Butler, Smith)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Joseph Butler’s arguments against Hobbes’s understanding of pity have in common the idea that the latter misrepresents the moral dimension of pity when he says that pity is a form of self-love. Though they both agree that such a passion is altruistic, the two authors disagree on its cognitive dimension. Butler has it that, thanks to his misconception, Hobbes helped discover sympathy, a key notion for 18th-century moral philosophy. English Title: Thinking About Pity With or Without Sympathy (Hobbes, Rousseau, Butler, Smith) Keywords: Sympathy, Pity, Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Butler, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith