The “odious and detestable passion of envy” and its place in Adam Smith’s vision of commercial society

As a pioneer analyst of commercial society, Smith's treatment of envy invites attention. In line with traditional views, Smith regards envy as a detestable antisocial emotion and, against the moderns, he sees it as irrelevant to personal ambition and wellbeing. Smith regards sympathy, a unifying force in individualised and unequal commercial society, as vulnerable to the envy of have-nots against the great and wealthy. He identifies social inhibitors of envy, but they are different in TMS and WN. The relations between envy and emulation are explored. Smith's account of envy is historically contextualised and his theoretical grasp of it analysed.