Essays on Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics)

304 Pages·2005·1.36 MB·English

by  Henry Home

essays on the principles
of morality and natural religion
natural law and
enlightenment classics
KnudHaakonssen
GeneralEditor
HenryHome,LordKames

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natural law and
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enlightenment classics
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Essays on the
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Principles of Morality
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and Natural Religion
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i Corrected and Improved, in a i
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Third Edition. Several Essays Added
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Concerning the Proof of a Deity
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i Henry Home, Lord Kames i
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Edited and with an Introduction by
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Mary Catherine Moran
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i Major Works of HenryHome, LordKames i
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liberty fund
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i Indianapolis i
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kames,HenryHome,Lord,1696–1782.
Essaysontheprinciplesofmoralityandnaturalreligion:
severalessaysaddedconcerningtheproofofadeity/
HenryHome,LordKames;
editedandwithanintroductionbyMaryCatherineMoran.
3rded.,correctedandimproved.
p. cm.
(Naturallawandenlightenmentclassics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-86597-448-9(alk.paper)—isbn0-86597-449-7(pbk:alk.paper)
1. Ethics. I. Moran,MaryCatherine. II. Title. III. Series.
bj1005.k2 2005
170—dc22 2004061555
liberty fund, inc.
8335AllisonPointeTrail,Suite300
Indianapolis,Indiana46250-1684
contents
Introduction ix
essays on the principles of morality
and natural religion 1
Appendix:SignificantVariantReadings 237
Bibliography 265
Index 269

introduction
LordKames’sEssaysonthePrinciplesof MoralityandNaturalReligionisat
onceatypicalexampleof andanoriginalcontributiontotheScottishEn-
lightenment’sdistinctiveattempttoconstructamoralsciencebasedonthe
principles of natural law. From Gershom Carmichael in the 1690s to
ThomasReidandAdamFergusoninthe1780s,theteachingandwriting
ofmoralphilosophyineighteenth-centuryScotlanddrewuponatradition
ofnaturaljurisprudencederivedfromGrotius,Pufendorf,andLocke.1If
its contractarian account of the bases of government provided asuitably
whiggish explanation for the emergence of civil society, natural law also
offeredinsightsintowhatHutchesoncalled“mankindasasystem,”which
wasgovernedbythefundamental“lawofsociality”2thatentailedvarious
1.FrancisHutcheson,ASystemofMoralPhilosophy,2vols.(London,1755),vol.2,
bk.II,chap.16,“ConcerningthegeneralRightsofHumanSociety,orMankindasa
System”;AdamFerguson,PrinciplesofMoralandPoliticalScience,2vols.(Edinburgh,
1792;reprint,NewYork:AMSPress,1973).Hutcheson’sSystemwasbasedonthewritten
lecturesthathedevelopedasprofessorofmoralphilosophyattheUniversityofGlasgow,
whileFerguson’sPrinciplesisbasedonthemoralphilosophylecturesthathedelivered
attheUniversityofEdinburgh.Carmichael’swritingsarenowavailableinNaturalRights
ontheThresholdoftheScottishEnlightenment,TheWritingsofGershomCarmichael,ed.
James Moore and Michael Silverthorne (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002). On the
significance of natural jurisprudence for Scottish Enlightenment theory, see Knud
Haakonssen,NaturalLawandMoralPhilosophy:FromGrotiustotheScottishEnlight-
enment(Cambridge,1996);IstvanHont,“Thelanguageofsociabilityandcommerce:
SamuelPufendorfandthetheoreticalfoundationsofthe‘four-stagestheory’,”inThe
LanguagesofPoliticalTheoryinEarlyModernEurope,ed.AnthonyPagden(Cambridge,
1987),pp.253–76;andJamesMooreandMichaelSilverthorne,“GershomCarmichael
andthenaturaljurisprudencetraditionineighteenth-centuryScotland,”inVirtueand
Commerce,pp.73–87.
2.SamuelPufendorf,OntheDutyofManandCitizen,ed.JamesTully,trans.Michael
Silverthorne(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1991),p.35.
ix
x introduction
rightsanddutiestoGod,toself,andtoothers.Tothisnaturallawframe-
work of rights and duties ordained by providence butknowablethrough
reason, the Scottish thinkers typically applied a new moral psychology
whichemphasizedtheroleof thepassionsandsentiments.Theattemptto
synthesizeanobjectivelygroundedlawwithasubjectivistaccountofmoral
and social exchange had an enormous influence on the Enlightenment’s
scienceofmanandsociety.
While his Elements of Criticism (1762)isa classicinthehistoryofaes-
thetics and his Sketches of the History of Man (1774) part of thecanonof
Enlightenment historical sociology, Kames’sEssayshasreceivedcompara-
tivelylittleattention.3YetitdeservestobereadalongsideKames’sbetter-
knownworksasanimportantcontributiontotheEnlightenment’sscience
of human nature. First published anonymously in 1751 and significantly
revised in 1758 and 1779, the Essays represents animportantcontribution
toeighteenth-centurydebateoverthefoundationsofjusticeandmorality
andthechallengesposedbytheskepticismofDavidHume.Morebroadly,
initsconcerntovindicatetheveracityofourcommonmoralintuitionsand
senseperceptionsthatarerootedinourverynature,theEssayshelpedfound
theScottishCommonSenseschool.TheEssaysisKames’smostimportant
philosophicalworkandshedsvaluablelightonhislifelongpreoccupations.
At the same time, the book raises issues of continuing importance—the
foundationsofmorality,freewillversusdeterminism,thenatureofselfand
identity.
Kames’s Life and Writings
Born at Eccles in the eastern borders borough of Berwickshire in 1696,
HenryHomewasthesonofminorlandedgentrywithdualpolitical(Whig
and Jacobite) and religious (Presbyterian and Episcopalian) loyalties on
boththematernalandpaternalsidesofthefamily.Becauseofthefamily’s
3.Somethirtyyearsago,twoKamesscholarsassertedthesignificanceoftheEssays:
see Arthur E.McGuiness,HenryHome,LordKames(NewYork:TwaynePublishers,
1970), esp. chap. 2; and Ian Simpson Ross, Lord Kames and the Scotland of His Day
(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1972),esp.chap.6.