ABSTRACT
It no doubt looks odd to group epistemology, philosophy of science, and aesthetics together. The combination is less surprising, however, when the people consider that Smith’s writings about scientific and philosophical theories mostly concern the sentiments that lead the reader to accept such theories: sentiments, after all, are crucial to their admiration of art. Smith's point throughout the essay is that the people accept systems on the basis of how they sooth our imaginations, but nothing about that point is meant to deny their truthfulness. If they are meant to show a close connection between aesthetics and epistemology, they do not make that point clearly or plausibly enough for it to have had an impact on subsequent philosophers. Nevertheless, they are useful in that they bring up themes that will reverberate throughout Smith’s later writings, and that provide an intriguing framework in which to interpret those writings.
