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social experi ence, tha t it became for American academi c social
psycho logists- Cooley, Baldw in , Ross and oth ers- around the turn of
this century. lL is, ra ther , a faculty se t in mo ti on by th e cOl1lempl a tion
o f o thers' sta tes o f feeling and being -unless th ese are too extreme to
evo ke a response, as on e obj ec t, vibra ting a t a cen ain fr equen cy, may
no t evoke "sympa theti c vibra tion " in another. Since humanity seeks
wh a t Smith call ed " the pleasure of mutual sympa thy," extremes of
conduct are aULOma ti call y modera ted by a diffu se sys tem o f soc ial
COl1lro l. lL is no t forma l o bliga ti ons, defin ed by sta tion , but the
working of the moral sen timen ts th a t shap es the behavio r o f persons as
they seek and express sympa th y in soc ia l encoul1lers . Fellow feeling
and helpfulness are distributed more uniforml y th an was conceivable
when o bliga ti ons were def ined by corpora te social organiza ti on-by
exclusivisti c bonds o f h elpin g and a lli ance like those of lordship ,
clientage and p a tri archy. As a p ervas ive social lubrica tion , sympath y
minimizes the poss ibilities o f mo ral ecs tasy, anxi ety and betraya l;
personal o bliga tions assume a uni versa l aspect, bo th in cOl1lent and
scope of applica ti on , and thus are fit into the uni versali sm required by
market and bureaucra tic society.
In contras t, specifi c and defin ed prac ti ca l impera tives run th rough
histor ical accounts o f h elping bonds prior to commercia l society. The
forms of obliga ti on turned on the exchange o f services and resources
whi ch , by definiti on , excluded those no t pani es to the bond . The
strong fee lin gs Caudwell ca lls " tender " were no t authenti ca ll y per–
son al in th e modern sense. In th e great exempl ary p ro to types-for
exampl e, Roland and Oliver , or Amis and Amil oun-others are trea–
sured for superbly manifesting public vinues-fighting ability, cour–
age, wise counsel, loyalty, the modern counterparts of which are
money, power, sta tus; all are public virtues whose excell ence is their
capac ity to wring rewards from a competitive world .
The troubl ed concern of the Rena issan ce with form al bonds of
helpin g and obliga ti on provides a point of entry into the histori cal
sequence leading to the ethi cs of Smith and Paley, and beyond them to
our own time. The Eliza bethans saw in lordship and loya l service, in
fri endship and trustworthy a lli ance, bo th selfl essness a t its nobl es t a nd
betraya l at its sh arpest. The parti al moderniza tion o f polity and
economy meant tha t the no ble class, drawing upon ho useho lds,
dependel1ls, and p erson al a lli ances with equals, reli abl y commanded
fewer resources in advancing and defending its interes ts. Tru st, obliga–
tion , and loya lty became intensely p ro bl ema tic and idea lized when la te
feudal form s o f p ersonal o bliga ti on were badl y frayed ye t still much
