Hutcheson: Two Texts on Human Nature

Two texts by a leading figure in British moral philosophy, supported by a mass of background editorial information.

Francis Hutcheson was one of the great thinkers in the history of British moral philosophy. The two previously inaccessible texts presented here are the most eloquent expressions of his theory of a moral sense. Thomas Mautner's introduction provides a mass of new information on the intellectual context of Hutcheson's work.Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) was the first major philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, and one of the great thinkers in the history of British moral philosophy. He firmly rejected the reductionist view, common then as now, that morality is nothing more than the prudent pursuit of self-interest, arguing in favour of a theory of a moral sense. The two texts presented here are the most eloquent expressions of this theory. The Reflections on our Common Systems of Morality insists on the connection between moral philosophy and moral improvement, and was a preview of his first major work, the Inquiry of 1725. The lecture On the Social Nature of Man, arguing against the psychological egoism of Hobbes, appears here in an English translation for the first time. Thomas Mautner's introduction and editorial apparatus provide a mass of new information, helping to give the reader a sense of the intellectual climate in which Hutcheson lived.