Hume’s Challenge: Hume’s Theory of Promise

Daniel Diatkine ()
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Daniel Diatkine: University of Paris-Saclay, Univ Evry

Chapter Chapter 2 in Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations, 2021, pp 15-31 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Smith attacks the mercantile system for is a partial system and that is why it can be dangerous. It is therefore necessary to understand what Smith means by “system” and “partiality” in Smith’s work. It requires a detour through the work of David Hume. This is a sensitive issue for two reasons: (1) Regarding justice as an artificial virtue (as Hume suggests), meant making a clean break with theories of natural law and the social contract. The heart of these artifices lies the necessity of keeping one’s promises. (2) For Hume, what is astonishing was not that we obey the law (in its most general sense) but that we actually want to obey the law.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-81600-1_2

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