Hutcheson and Smith reading analysis

I started off with the reading by Adam Smith. I didn’t understand it all too well, but it was clear to me, or so I think, that the primary purpose of his writing was to inform people on the feelings of others in a society and how understanding those feelings yourself would be quite difficult to attain. He mentions compassion, sympathy (of course), pain, fear, and moreover references humanity and where its future lies. Again, this particular reading was especially “out there” I think in terms of getting a grasp of a basic understanding of what it was that I read. Definitely finding a summation of this reading could help me find a way to connect this to my own life, but as for now that would be very hard for me to find a proper connection.

Hutcheson however seemed to make more sense to me. He noted that Humans, animals, and nature all had to get along and live in the same place and be able to work and function side by side. He also noted that things will shift and morph and change based on a few different happenings around that area and part in nature. I think that sounds a lot like college and what students cope with here. We’re in a new environment trying to function properly, respectfully, and openly in this new unfamiliar place.  Things change in your life, they don’t and wont ever be the same and I think that’s the message he was getting at, as long as you can adapt to the changes around you and find yourself in the right place, you can thrive in whatever place you deem is beautiful.