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10. Skepticism and Political Economy: Smith, Hume, and Rousseau

Skeptical arguments and a Ciceronian way of arguing in utramque partem are at the core of Smith's reflections on the foundations of political economy. Hume had speculated on why utility pleases–against the " skeptics " (Mandeville and Rousseau) who had argued that the constitution of the social order was utility-based (artificial invention of clever politicians in order to turn asocial beings into social ones). According to Hume, the public utility of social virtues pleases (in other words, we like what is good for the public, irrespective of what's in it for us). Smith appropriates this argument and takes it further. Utility pleases for non-utilitarian reasons, as it were; it is good in itself, irrespective of its consequences. Rousseau criticized the modern economy as generating artificial needs and artificial ways of meeting these needs. This critique is true in a way, but in a different perspective the beauty of the modern economy is not about outcomes, it is in the goodness of the system itself. The skeptical critique of the social order is true. The critique of the critique is true as well. This, paradoxically, is the skeptical foundation of political economy, and this ambivalence is at the heart of Smith's entire system. Skepticism in Adam Smith has rarely been studied. When it has been analyzed, the focus has been on cognition, natural philosophy, or religion. 1 There has been relatively little work on the function of skepticism in the moral and political philosophy of Smith. 2 I would like to argue here that skeptical arguments play a fundamental role in all discussions about justice and utility and suggest even further