Essays on Philosophical Subjects
Smith's 1795 posthumous essays — history of astronomy, ancient physics, ancient logic and metaphysics
Tradition: Scottish Enlightenment / philosophy of science / history of philosophy
Smith's 1795 posthumous essays — including the early History of Astronomy, a major philosophy-of-science work
Published posthumously in 1795 by Smith's literary executors Joseph Black (the Edinburgh chemist) and James Hutton (the Edinburgh geologist) — Smith had specifically requested in his will that these manuscripts be saved from the general burning of his papers he had ordered shortly before his July 1790 death — 'Essays on Philosophical Subjects' contains seven essays that Smith had been working on across his career but had not published in his lifetime. The volume includes: (1) 'The Principles which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries, Illustrated by the History of Astronomy' — the long centrepiece essay (composed in the 1750s) treating scientific theory-change from Eudoxus and the early Greeks through Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Descartes, and Newton; Smith's distinctive thesis is that scientific theories are evaluated by their imaginative-aesthetic capacity to produce wonder, surprise, and admiration in the philosophical mind, then to dissolve these emotions into intellectual satisfaction. This is one of the most influential early-modern philosophy-of-science statements. (2) 'The History of Ancient Physics' and (3) 'The History of Ancient Logic and Metaphysics' — shorter companion essays on Greek natural philosophy. (4) 'Of the External Senses' — Smith's epistemological essay on perception and sensation. (5) 'Of the Imitative Arts' — Smith's aesthetic essay on the visual arts, music, and poetry. (6) 'Of the Affinity Between Music, Dancing, and Poetry' — companion to the previous. (7) 'Of the Affinity Between Certain English and Italian Verses' — short prosodic note. The essays are the principal Smith material outside Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Wealth of Nations (1776), and the Lectures on Jurisprudence and Rhetoric (student-note reconstructions). The History of Astronomy in particular has been continuously read since 1795 as one of the major early-modern philosophy-of-science statements.
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Editions cited
- Essays on Philosophical Subjects (William Creech, Edinburgh, 1795; T. Cadell, London, 1795)
- Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. W. P. D. Wightman and J. C. Bryce, Essays on Philosophical Subjects (Oxford University Press / Liberty Fund, 1980)
- Critical context: Charles L. Griswold Jr., Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1999); Ryan Hanley, Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue (Cambridge, 2009)
School Embodiments
Major Scottish-Enlightenment essay collection.
"The History of Astronomy illustrates the principles which guide philosophical inquiry." (Essays on Philosophical Subjects, opening of the long essay)
Major early-modern philosophy-of-science treatise.
"Wonder, surprise, and admiration drive philosophical inquiry." (History of Astronomy, in Essays on Philosophical Subjects, §I)
Strong historicist approach to scientific theory-change.
"From Eudoxus to Newton, scientific systems succeed one another by imaginative-aesthetic appeal." (History of Astronomy, §IV)
Naturalistic-empirical methodology.
"Philosophy and natural science proceed by the same imaginative-empirical method." (Essays on Philosophical Subjects)
Aesthetic theory of scientific theory-change.
"The most beautiful theory will win." (History of Astronomy, on theory-change)
Classical political-economic tradition.
Internal Tensions
Smith's most important non-economic / non-ethical philosophical work, including the early History of Astronomy. The History of Astronomy has been continuously cited in philosophy of science as a major early-modern statement; the imaginative-aesthetic theory of scientific theory-change anticipates aspects of later philosophy of science (especially Kuhn's gestalt-shift account in Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962).
I. Time
Composed across 1750s-1780s; 1795 posthumous publication.
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II. Space
Edinburgh (Smith's final residence — he had returned from his Glasgow professorship to Edinburgh in 1778 as Commissioner of Customs).
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III. Matter
Posthumous essay collection (~400 pages in the Glasgow Edition). Form is varied: long historical-philosophical essay (Astronomy), shorter companion essays, brief notes.
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IV. Observer
Posthumous Smith. The observer-philosopher is the author who had ordered most of his manuscripts burned but specifically requested these saved.
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V. Energy
Posthumous-synthetic energies. The essays gather material Smith had been working on for decades but had not published.
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VI. Information
Single posthumous volume. The History of Astronomy is the most-cited single essay.
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How Essays on Philosophical Subjects resolves each dilemma
34 resolved positions across 4 dimensions · 23 unaligned.
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