Wonder in the face of scientific revolutions: Adam Smith on Newton's ‘Proof’ of Copernicanism

Book Reviews

“…(The weakest part of the book is her treatment of Adam Smith's philosophy of science in his important essay, 'The History of Astronomy', which she claims has an 'instrumentalist' position, 85-88. This view has been decisively rejected in scholarship by Montes 2004; see also Schliesser 2005a andBerry 2006a. ) Moreover, her analysis self-consciously (80) ignores any methodological or evidential arguments for (or epistemic merits of) the theories she describes.…”

“…Because of space limitations, I shall largely focus on Hume's views (for more on Smith, see Rosenberg 1960 andSchliesser 2005b). Hume offers a 'general rule': 'What depends upon a few persons is, in a great measure, to be ascribed to chance, or secret and unknown causes: What arises from a great number may often be accounted for by determinate and known cases' (Hume 1985, 112).…”

Is Smith a Real Virtue Ethicist?

“…Scholars have long appreciated that one of the most valuable and significant features of his ethics is its theory of judgment (see, e.g., Fleischacker 1999;Valihora 2001;Carrasco 2004). But Smith's interest in intellectual virtue hardly ends here, as has been noted (e.g., Schliesser 2005;Hanley 2013). For now what is of most significance is that Smith's concern with intellectual virtue is tied to his larger theory of happiness.…”

Awe and Wonder in Scientific Practice: Implications for the Relationship Between Science and Religion

“…It motivates us to study scientific phenomena for its own sake, deepens our understanding, and plays a role in our evaluation of scientific evidence. Since science is an open-ended endeavour, this role of wonder continues as new scientific findings open up new areas of research (Schliesser 2005).…”