Whether applauding the rule of law or lamenting the dismemberment of human character, the Scots were not neutral about commercial society. And since that ‘state of society’ was deemed superior to earlier states then value-judgements may fairly be said to pervade the range of their social theory. This is only to be expected. The conviction that ‘social science’ should be ‘value-free’ is a twentieth-century preoccupation (even though Hume is often identified as a major source of that conviction). In earlier centuries the notion of value-freedom would have seemed bizarre. For the Greeks their central concern was: ‘how to live well’; for the Christians it was: ‘know yourself as sinner and seek salvation in Christ’ and for ‘scientists’ like Hobbes it was: ‘heed the consequences of a failure to accept authority’. The Enlightenment marks no break in this. It was the leitmotif of Gladys Bryson's pioneering book that the Scots’ social enquiry was a branch of moral philosophy. This chapter explores that motif. Taking the notion of ‘social values’ as an umbrella-concept, we can, under its shade, link together three areas of concern - morals, religion and taste.

A: Moral Theory

i) Context

Leaving aside the specific treatments of Hume and Reid's epistemology and of Smith's economics, the Scots’ moral theory is perhaps the most studied aspect of their thought. In keeping with my agenda I shall be selective. This selectiveness can be justified crudely by a page count. Millar's remarks in moral theory are few and undeveloped. Ferguson in his Essay only devotes one perfunctory chapter to it, and even in his other works any moral theory is basically a digest of the views of others. Robertson, Stuart and Dunbar are essentially silent on this question. Of the remainder Smith and Hume, followed by Kames, have most to say and it is on their theorising that this section will concentrate. However, Francis Hutcheson, who has made only an intermittent appearance in the earlier chapters, will here receive a more sustained, if still brief, exposition. The touchstone throughout will be the relationship between the moral and social theory.

The key question for the Scots is: how do I know what is the morally right thing to do? The emphasis here is on know.