Philosophical Methods

Abstract

Abstract Following a general characterization of enlightened methodologies in Scotland, the chapter sketches four research programmes that integrated inquiries in natural philosophy (physics and ‘philosophical chemistry’), physiology (including medical theory), pneumatology, moral philosophy, and political economy. These are: (i) a programme inspired by Newton’s Principia, its core consisting of a combination of a typically a priori, but not exclusively mathematical, framework for processing empirical facts (representative works by Cheyne, Pitcairne, Maclaurin, Hutcheson, Turnbull); (ii) a programme inspired by Newton’s Opticks, focusing on comparative, analogical reasoning sensitive to proportions and qualitative differences (most important contributions by Cullen, Black, Hume, Smith); (iii) a programme founded on ‘common sense principles’ in inquiries into subjects of both moral and natural philosophy (most prominently represented by Reid and Robison); and (iv) a primarily Baconian research programme focusing on a descriptive and classificatory approach to natural history, medicine, and society (represented by Smellie, Anderson, Sinclair, John Gregory).