Hume
On Morality
Morality
for Hume wasn’t God-given creation, but a human construct
founded on reason or human sentiment. The fact that people argue
about whether an action is right or wrong and use a rational form
of discussion to reach their conclusions were strong arguments
in favour of morality being founded on reason. But we also have
feelings of approval or disapproval about our actions and this
shows that sentiment is also part of the human condition. The
connection between reason and sentiment was, for Hume, the essence
of morality. It is, essentially, a practical force which moves
us to act in certain ways. Reason by itself, although useful for
discussing morality, can never on its own impel us to act. Hume
believed that a combination of the two were required to make moral
judgements, for ‘Reason is, and ought only to be the slave
of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than
to serve and obey them.’ In the ‘Age of Reason’,
Hume recognised that we are fundamentally driven by our passions,
by our sentiments, which, in turn, shapes our reason.
For Hume,
morality is instrumental in the happiness of mankind. If we
have affection for mankind then we seek its happiness, we are
benevolent. Benevolence to humanity forms the basis of our morality,
which is reinforced by our reason as it pursues happiness. For
Hume humanity was essentially benevolent and not fallen or sinful
as the Church taught.
Hume on
Religion
Needless to say, Hume’s theories upset the Kirk. In 1748,
having been already denied the chair of Moral Philosophy at
Edinburgh University, Hume went even further in his challenge
of church doctrine. In his essay, On Miracles, Hume challenged
the revelations contained in the Bible. He believed that no
report of a miracle could be trusted on the basis that everything
had a scientific explanation. However, in order to keep out
of trouble with the ecclesiastical authorities, he restricted
his argument as to whether one could believe the testimony of
witnesses to miracles. Hume certainly wasn’t lacking modesty
when he claimed that his essay would prove an ‘everlasting
check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently,
will be useful as long as the world endures.’
In Hume's
view, experience is our only sure judge. From experience we
learn that 'A' is usually followed by 'B', that, for example,
if we let an apple drop it falls to the ground, and, if we do
it again tomorrow the same thing will happen. From out of experience
we come to expect that 'A' will indeed be followed by 'B'. In
the case of miracles, which Hume defines as acts which break
the laws of nature, the improbability of them happening is so
enormous that it is impossible to give them any credibility.
In Hume’s dictum ‘A wise man, therefore, proportions
his belief to the evidence’.
David
Hume - On his Deathbed
In death, Hume was determined to set an example. James Boswell
got the journalistic scoop of the Enlightenment when he interviewed
Hume on his death bed. Hume stated that he no longer believed
in religion and was sceptical of any afterlife, adding that
when he heard a man was religious, he concluded he was a rascal,
although he had known some instances of very good men being
religious. In the face of death, Boswell found Hume ‘placid’
and ‘even cheerful’. Deeply troubled by his own religious
convictions, Boswell was very disturbed by the Hume’s unconcerned
atheism. Weeks later, he appealed to Dr Samuel Johnson to calm
his fears; 
Johnson
told Boswell that Hume was lying. The evidence suggests otherwise.
Adam
Smith, Moral Philosopher 1723-90
The work of Kirkcaldy’s most famous son, Adam Smith, increasingly
dominates the world we live in today. He attended Glasgow University
and later held the chair of Moral Philosophy there from 1751
until 1764. It
may seem unlikely today that a Professor of Moral Philosophy
could write the bible of modern capitalist economics, entitled:
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
but Smith was profoundly interested in how money was made and
what impact it had on society. Although he was stridently in
favour of free trade, he wasn’t simply interested in a
more efficient economy, but in the kind of society that free
trade would create.
The Scotland
which Smith lived in was undergoing massive structural change
as it went through the Industrial Revolution. He could see that
an increasingly commercial economy would transform a country
into a new form of society bringing new rights and new forms
of citizenship to the population. He embraced economic change,
believing it would create a society where everyone was richer
in real terms. However, he also had severe criticisms to make
of those who worked to the detriment of society as a whole.
He was especially critical of Glasgow’s tobacco lords,
many of whom he knew personally, for their self-interested profiteering.
Smith
believed that society was advancing through various phases towards
a truly great civilisation. He saw slavery as economically backward:
a stage society had to go through in its evolution, although
he didn’t see anything absolutely morally wrong with it.
For Smith, economic progress meant societal progress.
Smith’s
ideas were adopted by figures such as the Prime Minister, Pitt
the Younger, and have remained central to British public life
ever since. He also advocated an end to the American War of
Independence, arguing that Britain would make more money through
trading with America than reducing the country to servile obedience.
Economic success was more important than territorial control
and he formed part of the delegation which negotiated the peace
with America. Just part of his lasting legacy to the modern
world.
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