ABSTRACT
In the present paper, the author examine in what ways Smith is a sceptic regarding both the process and the results of enquiries in natural philosophy – or in modern terms, regarding research design and research results in sciences – as expressed in his posthumously published Essays on Philosophical Subjects. It engages in considering the nature and the extent of the Smithian scepticism of natural philosophy by using William’s taxonomy. On the contrary, the imagination is emphasised to be solely responsible for creating these connections. Thus, the discovery of the bridge between two events does not mean the discovery of ultimate laws of nature, and has no unquestionable truth value in this sense, unless one specifically refers to the nature of the human mind, more specifically, to that of the imagination. When Smith lists the characteristics of a successful philosophical system, the probability by which a particular system reveals the real laws of nature is not among the essential criteria.
