A System of Social Science Papers Relating to Adam Smith

289 Pages·1979·10.746 MB·English

by  Andrew S. Smith

A SYSTEM OF
SOCIAL SCIENCE

A SYSTEM OF
SOCIAL SCIENCE
PAPERS RELATING TO
ADAM SMITH
By
ANDREW S. SKINNER
CLARENDON PRESS • OXFORD
1979
H6 103 .
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0x2 6dp
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Published in the United States by Oxford University Press, New York
©Andrew S. Skinner 1979
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Skinner, Andrew Stewart
A system of social science.
1. Smith, Adam, b.1723
I. Title
300’.92’4 HB103.S6 79-40343
ISBN 0-19-828422-5
Set by Hope Services
Printed in Great Britain by offset lithography by
Billing & Sons Ltd, Guildford, London and Worcester
Preface
Most of the essays which make up this volume were written
at different times and published in a variety of journals. In
bringing them together it is intended to make them more
accessible to the student, and at the same time to make it
clear that the sections into which the book falls, while free¬
standing, are intended to make a single argument; a single
commentary on Smith’s system of social science. For the most
part, the different chapters have been extensively rewritten in
order to eliminate repetition, and to take account of changes
of view. The exceptions are two papers of a relatively recent
date (chapters 5 and 8) which are reprinted by kind permission
of the Scottish Journal of Political Economy and the Journal
of the History of Ideas. Chapter 6, on the Division of Labour,
has been left virtually untouched, and was in fact written
jointly with Ronald Meek. It is reproduced with the per¬
mission of Ronald Meek and the Economic Journal. Sections
of chapter 2 are used by courtesy of Edinburgh University
Press and of the University of Texas. Chapter 7 is a modified
version of section 3 of my introduction to the Pelican edition
of the Wealth of Nations and is reproduced, in part, with the
permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
All references to Smith’s works conform to the usages of
the Glasgow edition, and the Table of Corresponding Passages
of The Wealth of Nations, originally prepared by the present
writer, is appended in order to facilitate use of the two main
Cannan editions which are in general circulation.
Over the years I have incurred a number of debts, not all
of which can be acknowledged here. I am however greatly
indebted to A.L. Macfie, the Adam Smith Professor in my
time as a student in Glasgow, and to the late Ronald Meek
who lectured extensively on the history of economic thought
at the same period. I am also indebted to my colleagues who
worked on the Glasgow edition of Smith’s Works and Corre¬
spondence and especially to D.D. Raphael, in addition to the
two scholars just mentioned. I have also benefited greatly from
-*21025
a long friendship with Donald Winch and from the writings of
Duncan Forbes — in my opinion the most perceptive of the
modem commentators on Smith’s ‘politics’.
Glasgow, 1978 A.S.S.
Contents
Abbreviations and References ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Science and the Role of the Imagination 14
3. Moral Philosophy and Civil Society 42
4. Historical Theory 68
5. The Development of a System 104
6. The Development of an Idea 130
7. A Conceptual System 151
8. Mercantilist Policy: The American Colonies 184
9. The Functions of Government 209
Appendices 239
Table of Corresponding Passages of
The Wealth of Nations 249
Index 275
-
Abbreviations and References
WORKS OF ADAM SMITH
Co IT. Correspondence
Early Draft ‘Early Draft’ of The Wealth of
Nations
EPS Essays on Philosophical Subjects,
included among which are:
Ancient Logics The History of the Ancient Logics and
Metaphysics’
Ancient Physics The History of the Ancient Physics’
Astronomy The History of Astronomy’
English and Italian Verses ‘Of the Affinity between certain English
and Italian Verses’
External Senses ‘Of the External Senses’
Imitative Arts ‘Of the Nature of that Imitation which
takes place in what are called the Imitative
Arts’
Letter ‘Letter to the Authors of the Edinburgh
Review’
Stewart Dugald Stewart, ‘Account of the Life and
Writings of Adam Smith’
Languages Considerations Concerning the First
Formation of Languages
LJ(A) Lectures on Jurisprudence, Report
of 1762-3
LJ(B) Lectures on Jurisprudence, Report
dated 1766
LRBL Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles
Lettres
TMS The Theory of Moral Sentiments
WN The Wealth of Nations
X Abbreviations and References
References to Corr. give the number of the letter (as listed
in the volume of Smith’s Correspondence in the Glasgow
edition), the date, and the name of Smith’s correspondent.
Reference to LJ and LRBLgive the volume (where applic¬
able) and the page number of the manuscript (shown in the
printed texts of the Glasgow edition). References to LJ(B) add
the page number in Edwin Cannan’s edition of the Lectures
on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms (1896). References to
LRBL give the page number in John M. Lothian’s edition of
the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1963).
References to the other works listed above locate the rele¬
vant paragraph, not the page, in order that any edition may
be consulted (in the Glasgow edition, the paragraph numbers
are printed in the margin). Thus:
Astronomy, 11.4 ‘History of Astronomy’, Sect. II, §4
Stewart, 1.12 Dugald Stewart, ‘Account of the Life and
Writings of Adam Smith’, Sect. I, § 12
TMS I.i.5.5 The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part I,
Sect, i. Chap. 5, §5
WN V.i.f.26 The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chap, i,
sixth division, §26
OTHER WORKS
Essays on Adam Smith Essays on Adam Smith, edited
by Andrew Stewart Skinner and
Thomas Wilson (1975)
HV John Millar, Historical View of the
English Government (1786, new
edn. in 4 vols., 1803)
Rae, Life John Rae, Life of Adam Smith
(1895)
Scott, ASSP William Robert Scott, Adam Smith
as Student and Professor (1937)