The Problem of Natural Religion in Smith’s Moral Thought

Heydt, Colin

doi:10.1353/jhi.2017.0003

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…10 Colin Heydt provides an ex negativo account by contrasting Smith's manuscripts with those of his contemporaries to find that his lack features to be expected from theories of an explicitly religious tenor. 11 Charles L. Griswold interprets Smith as providing a "psychological anthropology of religion," 12 so that only after rules are adopted do individuals come to recognize them as God's commands. Lauren Kopajtic and Paul Sagar follow suit by arguing that moral sentiments precede the process of assigning the source of these to a divine being.…”

Section: Smith and Religion In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion

Lentz,

Tuckness

2024

Rev Pol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The eighteenth century is often thought of as an important era for the secularization of British philosophy. One dimension of this secularization involves philosophers developing theories that, while not explicitly rejecting God, are less reliant on claims about God for their intelligibility and plausibility. A comparison of Adam Smith with his teacher, Francis Hutcheson, reveals an underappreciated facet of this process. Hutcheson portrayed God as an impartial legislator and used this metaphor to clarify contested moral rules in a way that would make little sense if God did not exist. In contrast, Smith's impartial spectator does not require belief in a God who is the author of the moral law in order to determine the correct interpretation of contested moral principles. By pursuing this alternative conception of impartiality, Smith developed a theory that was, in this respect, less reliant on religious premises than Hutcheson's had been.

show abstract

Section: Smith and Religion In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion

Lentz,

Tuckness

2024

Rev Pol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The theological roots and elements of Smith’s economic thought have been analyzed extensively (Viner 1972; Hill 2004; Harrison 2011; Oslington 2011, 2017). His contemporaries (e.g., Francis Hutcheson, Joseph Butler, Josiah Tucker, William Paley, to mention just a few) were very interested in theological issues, theodicy included (Moore 2000; Waterman 2002; Hill 2004; Neiman 2015; Heydt 2017; Blaney 2018; Oslington 2017; Hengstmengel 2019; Ballor and Van der Kooi 2022). In the WN , Smith referred to “wisdom, “work,” and “labour,” among other actions accomplished by nature as a “putative creator” (Smith in Waterman 2002, p. 909).…”

Section: Conclusion: a Theological Reading?mentioning

confidence: 99%

IDLENESS AND THE VERY SPARING HAND OF GOD: THE INVISIBLE TIE BETWEEN HUME’SDIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGIONAND SMITH’SWEALTH OF NATIONS

Santori¹,

Assistant²

2022

J Hist Econ Thought

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the eighteenth-century Scottish and British cultural context, idleness was a central issue for religion, literature, art, and philosophy. This paper analyzes the reflections of David Hume and Adam Smith on idleness and commercial society. Hume advanced his most provocative view on the subject in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), where idleness is represented as the endowment made by the “very sparing hand” of the “author of nature” to humanity. My argument is that Smith’s view on idleness that was advanced in the Wealth of Nations (1776) is connected to Hume’s Dialogues, as Smith’s invisible hand defeats idleness through a combination of self-interest, the propensity to exchange, and the division of labor. The broader aim of this study is to add to the philosophical relationship between the Scottish philosophers.

show abstract

“…The theological roots and elements of Smith's economic thought have been analyzed extensively (Viner 1972;Hill 2004;Harrison 2011;Oslington 2011Oslington , 2017. His contemporaries (e.g., Hutcheson, Butler, Tucker, Paley, to mention just a few) were very interested in theological issues, theodicy included (Moore 2000;Waterman 2002;Hill 2004;Neiman 2015;Heydt 2017;Blaney 2018;Oslington 2017;Hengstmengel 2019). In the WN, Smith referred to "wisdom, "work," and "labour," among other actions accomplished by nature as a "putative creator" (Smith in Waterman 2002, p. 909).…”

Section: Conclusion: a Theological Reading?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Idleness and the Very Sparing Hand of God: The invisible tie between Hume’s "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and Smith’s "Wealth of Nations"

Santori¹,

Assistant²

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the eighteenth-century Scottish and British cultural context, idleness was a central issue for religion, literature, art, and philosophy. This paper analyzes the reflections of David Hume and Adam Smith on idleness and commercial society. Hume advanced his most provocative view on the subject in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), where idleness is represented as the endowment made by the “very sparing hand” of the “author of nature” to humanity. My argument is that Smith’s view on idleness advanced in the Wealth of Nations (1776) is connected to Hume’s Dialogues, as Smith’s invisible hand defeats idleness through a combination of self-interest, the propensity to exchange, and the division of labor. The broader aim of this study is to add to the philosophical relationship between the Scottish philosophers.

show abstract

The Problem of Natural Religion in Smith’s Moral Thought

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion

Impartial Spectators and Legislators: Adam Smith and Religion

IDLENESS AND THE VERY SPARING HAND OF GOD: THE INVISIBLE TIE BETWEEN HUME’SDIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGIONAND SMITH’SWEALTH OF NATIONS

Idleness and the Very Sparing Hand of God: The invisible tie between Hume’s "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and Smith’s "Wealth of Nations"

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About