Adam Smith's Humean Attitude About Science; Illustrated by the History of Astronomy

Abstract

In this paper I examine connections between Smith and Hume’s thought evidenced by Smith’s posthumously published essay, “History of Astronomy” (HA). I argue that Smith's outlook in HA is deeply influenced by Hume's naturalism, understood as the mind’s pragmatic acceptance of and operation within an unverifiable frame of belief formation. I suggest that Smith demonstrates and develops his Humean outlook in HA in three stages: (1) He begins the essay by recognizing the mind's unavoidable sentimental operation within a frame of natural belief formation, a frame characterized by the presuppositions of external existence and causal relations. (2) He recognizes the relatively frail philosophical underpinnings of such belief formation and accordingly expresses a skeptical attitude towards final interpretations. (3) He rhetorically demonstrates the pervasiveness of belief in spite of its weak philosophical underpinning by sliding himself into a seeming assent to the finality of Newtonian Copernicanism at the end of the essay, consciously contradicting his initial skeptical commitments.

Keywords: Adam Smith, History of Astronomy, David Hume, Naturalism, Skepticism

JEL Classification: A120, B12, B4