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Hume and Conservatism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Sheldon S. Wolin
Sheldon S. Wolin
Affiliation:
University of California(Berkeley)
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Extract

Although David Hume's stature as a philosopher has rarely been questioned, his claims as a political theorist have fared less well. Jefferson showed deep hostility towards Hume's ideas, while John Adams could find agreement with only a few points. Later opinion has been less vehement but still reserved. Thomas Huxley thought Hume's political writings suggestive, but on the whole marred by an unabashed desire for literary success. In Sir Leslie Stephen's judgment Hume was guilty of a “cynical conservatism” that was at once superficial and unhistorical.

More recent studies, such as those of Sabine and Halévy, have established more securely Hume's place in political thought but have left certain ambiguities. Sabine has coupled Hume with Burke as an opponent of eighteenth-century rationalism, while Halévy viewed him as a forerunner of the “philosophical radicalism” of Bentham, Adam Smith, James Mill, and Ricardo. To have fathered squabbling children is always something of an embarrassment, but particularly so when one is, like Hume, temperamentally averse to taking sides. It is true, nonetheless, that if a temporary distinction is made between Hume's doctrine and his influence, it is possible to maintain that his influence worked in two quite different directions. His inquires into causation, the role of reason, and the nature of moral judgments helped eventually to undermine the natural law structure of eighteenth-century liberalism, while his emphasis on utility as the test of institutions contributed an important ingredient to Benthamite liberalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , December 1954 , pp. 999 - 1016
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1954

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References

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41 E.g., the Act of Settlement, the Regency Bill (1788–89), and the dispute over parliamentary privileges during the Wilkes affair.

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45 In this connection it should be noted that Burke, for all of his concern for the “nice equipoise” of the Constitution, was unaware of the degree to which the system of “influence” contributed towards that result. See his proposals for “economical reform” designed to implement Dunning's resolution of 1780 which warned against the Crown's system of “influence.” Works, 12 vols. (London, 1815), Vol. 2, pp. 69–70Google Scholar.

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49 Ibid.

50 Ibid., pp. 121–22.

51 “Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth”, Works, Vol. 3, p. 480Google Scholar. Hume was careful to preface this admittedly utopian essay with several remarks intended to underline his own affection for an established system which worked tolerably well.

52 The exception to this point was Hume's interest in “national character.” Although he suggested that certain common traits, such as similar manners and habits, could be discovered in a people who had been associated over a long period of time, this idea was not employed to prove any qualitative differences among peoples. Note also the statement in Human Understanding, sec. 8, pt. 1: “Would you know the sentiments, inclinations, and course of life of the Greeks and Romans? Study well the temper and actions of the French and English: You cannot be much mistaken in transferring to the former most of the observations which you have made with regard to the latter. Mankind are so much the same in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular.”

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