Abstract

While Hume never directly referred to himself as the “Newton of the moral sciences”, Newton‟s influence on Hume‟s development of the “moral science” as “experimental” is undeniable. Indeed, I will be arguing here, that the failure to appreciate the degree to which Hume‟s own view of Newton influenced his thinking on the central questions of the moral sciences, has led to some significant misunderstandings of Hume‟s most important contributions to the history of ideas