Carmichael on Natural Law

Scottish Philosophy in the 18th Century (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Gershom Carmichael (1672–1729) studied at Edinburgh University (1687–1691), taught at St Andrews University (1693–1694), and spent the rest of his life at Glasgow, first as a regent in arts and then as professor of moral philosophy. He was a main conduit into Scotland of the European natural law tradition, a tradition of scientific investigation of human nature with a view to constructing an account of the principles that are morally binding on us. Among the great figures of that tradition were Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and Samuel Pufendorf (1632–1694), thinkers whose writings played a major role in moral philosophical activity in Scotland during the Age of Enlightenment.

In 1718, during the first stirrings of the Scottish Enlightenment, Carmichael published Supplements and Observations upon the two books of the distinguished Samuel Pufendorf's On the Duty of Man and Citizen. In 1725 he published a second edition containing extensive additional material. Carmichael affirms: “when God prescribes something to us, He is simply signifying that he requires us to do such and such an action, and regards it, when offered with that intention, as a sign of love and veneration towards him, while failure to perform such actions, and, still worse, commission of the contrary acts, he interprets as an indication of contempt or hatred” (Carmichael, Natural Rights, p. 46). Hence we owe God love and veneration, and on this basis Carmichael distinguishes between immediate and mediate duties. Our immediate duty is formulated in the first precept of natural law, that God is to be worshipped. He seeks a sign of our love and veneration for him, and worship is the clearest manifestation of these feelings.

The second precept, which identifies our mediate duties, is: “Each man should promote, so far as it is in his power, the common good of the whole human race, and, so far as this allows, the private good of individuals” (Natural Rights, p. 48). This relates to our ‘mediate’ duties since we indirectly signify our love and veneration of God by treating his creatures well. On this basis, Carmichael deploys the distinction between self and others in two subordinate precepts: “Each man should take care to promote his own interest without harming others” and “Sociability is to be cultivated and preserved by every man so far as in him lies.” These precepts, concerning duties to God, to self and to others, are the fundamental precepts of natural law, and though the precept that God is to be worshipped is prior to and more evident than the precept that one should live sociably with men, the requirement that we cultivate sociability is a foundation of the well-lived life.

Carmichael therefore rejects an important aspect of Pufendorf's doctrine on the cultivation of sociability, for the latter argues that the demand “that every man must cultivate and preserve sociability so far as he can” is that to which all our duties are subordinate. Yet for Carmichael the precept that we worship God is not traceable back to the duty to cultivate sociability, and therefore the requirement that we cultivate and preserve sociability cannot precede the laws binding us to behave appropriately towards God.

For instance, God is central to the narrative concerning the duty to cultivate our mind, for performance of this duty requires that we cultivate in ourselves the conviction that God is creator and governor of the universe and of us. Carmichael criticises Pufendorf for paying too little attention to the subject of cultivation of the mind, and indicates some features that might profitably have been considered by Pufendorf, for example the following.

Due cultivation of the mind involves filling it with sound opinion regarding our duty, learning to judge well the objects which commonly stimulate our desires, and acquiring rational control of our passions. It also involves our learning to act on the knowledge that, as regards our humanity, we are neither superior nor inferior to other people. Finally, a person with a well cultivated mind is aware of how little he knows of what the future holds, and consequently is neither arrogant at his present happy circumstances nor excessively anxious about ills that might yet assail him.

The Stoic character of this text is evident, as is Carmichael's injunction that we not be disturbed on account of evils which have befallen us, or which might befall us, due to no fault of ours. The deliberate infringement of the moral law is said however to be another matter; it prompts a discomfort peculiarly hard to bear. In full concord with the Stoic tendency here observed, we find him supporting, under the heading ‘duty to oneself’, a Stoic view of anger. Though not expressing unconditional disapproval of anger, he does point out that it is difficult to keep an outburst of anger within just limits, and that such an outburst is problematic in relation to natural law, for: “it must be regarded as one of the things which most of all makes human life unsocial, and has pernicious effects for the human race. Thus we can scarsely be too diligent in restraining our anger” (Natural Rights, p. 65). Anger conflicts with sociability and it is only by due cultivation of the mind that our sociability can be fortified and enhanced.

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