A System of Moral Philosophy, in Three Books, Published from the Original Manuscript by His Son Francis Hutcheson, M.D., to which is prefixed Some Account of Their Life, Writings, and Character of the Author

[xii], xlviii, 358; [iv], 380 pp. 4to. Among the Scottish literati and illuminati who subscribed to these volumes were Adam Ferguson, William Hamilton, Henry Home Lord Kanes, and, of course, Adam Smith. Hutcheson's works influenced those of David Hume and Adam Smith. Gladys Bryson in Man and Society (1945) was probably the first modern scholar to contend that Francis Hutcheson was the 'father' of the Scottish Enlightenment, a view confirmed by Charles Camic in Experience and Enlightenment (1983): "His celebrated proclamations on economics, politics, psychology, and ethics challenged a solid phalanx of received wisdoms and anticipated many of the specific arguments... of Hume and Smith." A System of Moral Philosophy was published some nine years after Hutcheson's death and is doubtless his most comprehensive work, covering not just the moral philosophy implied by the title but legal and political matters as well. T.D. Campbell, in his essay, 'Francis Hutcheson: 'Father' of the Scottish Enlightenment' (in The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment, ed. by R.H. Campbell and Andrew S. Skinner, 1982) has argued that Hutcheson exhibits a 'radicalism, uncommon at the time, which often goes far beyond anything that can be found in his more cautious Scottish successors,' and much of the radical development that Hutcheson was giving to political theory and moral theory is found at its most incisive and challenging in this work. However, the work also has a strong Irish connection, which is not surprising given the time that Hutcheson spent in Ireland. Roughly one quarter of the subscribers are Irish, including the Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Henry, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland, various Irish clerics, e.g., Thomas Leland, Viscount Molesworth, etc. Hutcheson's work also influenced William Drennan, the son of his friend Thomas Drennan, to create the United Irishmen with a society based on 'the Rights of Man, and the Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number,' a phrase often attributed to Jeremy Bentham. Hutcheson referred to Ireland as his 'dearly beloved native soil,' and his experience of intolerance and marginalization as a Presbyterian in Ireland probably contributed to the liberalism found in his own work. "Hutcheson had sent to Ireland and to William Bruce a manuscript of a work which would remain unpublished during his lifetime. It was entitled A System of Moral Philosophy, in Three Books (1755). It is the most voluminous of Hutcheson's writings (738 pages); it is also the most ambitious in scope. It contains his most comprehensive account of human nature, the supreme good and greatest happiness, divine providence, natural rights, and civil government. His design in the System appears to have been to delineate a theodicy, in which God or providence is shown to have made provision for the happiness of the human race. It is curious that after taking the time and trouble to compose so large a work Hutcheson should have decided not to publish it. He told Drennan (letter of 15 June 1741) that he was dissatisfied with the argument. He also indicated that while making revisions of the manuscript he was refreshing his memory of particular subjects for incorporation in his lectures. If the purpose of the exercise was simply to put his thoughts on ethics, natural jurisprudence, and civil government into English for classroom use, then publication would have no point. There may also be significance in the circumstance that he was determined that the manuscript be circulated in Ireland, notwithstanding the very sensible advice given him by William Bruce that 'all the advantage that can possibly arise from the perusal of them on this side of the water is not worth the hazard of their being lost' (W. Bruce to F. Hutcheson, 12 Jan 1738, NL Scot., MS 9252). Once his manuscript had been read in Ireland by Edward Synge and others, Hutcheson may have concluded that his ideas on this subject had been communicated to the readers whom he had primarily in mind when he composed it. He may also have been disturbed by arguments put to him by his younger contemporary David Hume, and decided to pursue his differences with Hume in a different idiom." - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography