ECONOMICS AND HISTORY‐THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT
| Date | 01 February 1965 |
| Published date | 01 February 1965 |
| Author | A. Skinner |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1965.tb00743.x |
SCOTTISH
JOURNAL
OF
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
FEBRUARY
1965
ECONOMICS
AND
HISTORY-
THE
SCOTTISH
ENLIGHTENMENT
A.
SKINNER
EDMUND
Burke was installed as Lord Rector of Glasgow University
in April of
1784;l
an
office
which brought Burke more than an unneces-
sary compliment
in
that it enabled him to make direct contact with
some of the leading academic thinkers of the day-Adam Smith,
William Robertson and John Millar.2
Like Burke, these men were imbued with the historical spirit,
but
they represent a wider school
of
thought
to
whom the philosophy
of
reverent conservatism,
if
not
the spirit which lay behind it, was
en tirely foreign3
In
what follows, we shall be mainly concerned with a distinct
theory of history which commanded wide support
in
eighteenth
century Scotland! The theory seems remarkable for
its
formality and
The Annual Register,
1784, Chronicle of Events. See
C.
R. Fay, ‘Edmund
Burke and Adam Smith
’
in
The World
of
Adam Smith
(1960).
Adam Smith (1723-1790), Professor of Moral Philosophy in Glasgow. Main
relevant works are:
The Wealrh
of
Nations
(1776);
The
Moral Sentiments
(1759);
The Lectures,
ed. Cannan (1896).
William Robertson (1721-1793), Historiographer Royal and Principal
of
Edin-
burgh University. Main relevant work is
The History
of
Charles
V
(1769).
but see also
The History
of
Scotland
(1758), and
The History
of
America
(1788) all in
Works
with
’
Life
’
by Dugald Stewart (1809).
John Millar (1735-1801), Prof. of Law in Glasgow. Main relevant works are:
The Origin
of
the Distinction
of
Ranks
(1771), 4th ed. with ‘Life
’
by Craig
(1806);
The Historical View
of
the English Government
(1786, new ed. in
4
vols.,
1803).
3A critique
of
Burke which is typical of an a proach which seeks
causes
of revolution may be found in James MacKintosE’s
Vindiciue Gallicae
(1 79 1).
40n
the
general nature of Scottish Thought in the period, see
W.
C.
Lehmann,
John Millar
of
Glasgow
(1960), Ch.
X;
G. Bryson,
Man
and Society
(1945).
I
1
2
A.
SKINNER
for the clear and unequivocable link which was established between
economic and social organisation. The object of the present paper
is
to demonstrate the nature of this relationship;
a
subject which may
be of interest for its own sake, but also for the obvious,
if
limited,
parallels which may be drawn with Marx.6
As
a
means of illustrating the distinctive nature of the Historians'
contribution, we may take the questions
of
method, analysis and the
conclusions reached-in that order.
I
METHOD
In
his
Inquiry
Concerning the Principles
of
Morals.
Hume argued
'Men are now cured of their passion for hypothesis and systems
in natural philosophy, and will hearken to no arguments but those
which are derived from experience. It
is
full time they should
attempt
a
like reformation in all moral disquisitions.'o
It was this advice which the Historians accepted, or at least
this
'both the earliest and the latest accounts collected from every
quarter of the globe, represent mankind as assembled in troops
and companies.''
-this was the position from which they started.
But
if
the method was empirical, it was also historical. The
problem considered was the great variety of experience of man
in
society and in dealing with it they seem to have accepted Aristotle's
dictum:
'If
you consider the state-or anything else for that matter-in
relation to the origins from which it springs, you will arrive at the
clearest understanding of its nature."
Although the approach has classical roots it appears that the
immediate impetus came from Montesquieu's
Spirit
of
the
Laws-a
5See
R.
L. Meek, 'The Scottish Contribution to Marxist Sociology' in
Democracy,and the Labour Movement,
ed. Saville, 1954, and cf.
W.
C.
Lehmann, John Millar-Historical Sociologist
'
in
the
British Journal
of
Sociology,
March 1952.
'Adam Ferguson,
The History
of
Civil Society
(1763,
p.
4.
Ferguson
(1723-1816) was Professor of Moral PhilosoDhv in Edinburah: see also
his
that:
climate of opinion within which they worked and since:
cit., Sect.
1.
Principles
of
Moral and Political Science
(1792):
-
Politics.
Bk.
1,
1252a.
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