Dialoghi sulla religione naturale - Studi umanistici Unimi - Università ...

238 1L REFERENTE STORICO
John Home volle mettere in scena la sua tragedia Douglas attirandosi
contro tutto lo schieramento dei highflyers, sdegnati dal fatto che un
reverendo si fosse dato al teatro. Qui il contrasto fra i due partiti eccle­
siastici diventa immediatamente un contrasto in materia di politica eco­
nomica. In un pamphlet satirico si attribuisce la seguente risoluzione
al presbitery di Edimburgo, che aveva censurato John Home.
Resolved, That Improvements of ali Sorts are hurtful to Society.
Ordered, That no Alteration be ever attempted to be made of thè
Principles, thè Customs, and thè Manners of Men.
Ordered, That thè Method of improving Land by enclosing and
fallowing be immediately laid aside because... it is offen­
sive to thè People.
Ordered, That thè People of Scotland remain for ever in Barbarity 33 .
Esplicita è la posizione presa da Adam Ferguson a proposito del
Douglas, in The morality of stage plays seriously constdered (1757),
in cui mette in chiaro che attentare ai diritti (compreso quello di an­
dare a teatro) dei ricchi significava attentare all'intero ordine sociale 34 .
and, on thè contrary, whatever tended to obstruct them, would displease upon that
account; so virtue, which is, as it were, thè fine polish to thè wheels of society,
necessarily pleases; while vice, like thè vile rust, which makes them jar and grate
upon one another, is as necessarily offensive » (ibidem); sia alla sua dottrina della
« mano invisibile », presente non solo in The wealth of nations, ma anche nella
Theory of moral sentiments, come causa dell'accordo non solo delle contrastanti
« passioni economiche », ma di ogni tipo di passione (cfr. ivi, part IV, eh. I, pp.
264-65). Sul parallelismo fra newtonianismo e dottrina di Smith, vedi R. R. BLACK,
A comparison of classical English economie thought with Newtonian naturai philo-
sophy (Ph. D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley 1963).
33 Votes of thè P[resbiter];y of E[dinburg]&, s. 1. né data [Edinburgh 1757?],
pp. 2-4
34 Scrive Ferguson: « It has pleased Providence, for wise purpose, to piace
inen in different stations, and to bestow upon them different degrees of wealth.
Without this circumstance there could be no subordination, no government, no
order, no industry. Every person does good, and promotes thè happiness of so­
ciety, by living agreeable to thè rank in which providence has placed him... whilst
from humanity we indulge thè poor in their station, we ought from justice to
indulge thè wealthy in theirs, and to expect that they are to go on agreeable to thè
habits of living which belong to their station, and which in effect are necessary
to thè order and good of society, and to thè maintenance of thè poor » (The mo­
rality of stage plays seriously considered, Edinburgh 1757, pp. 24-5; cfr. D. KET-
TLER, The social and politicai thought of Adam Ferguson, Columbus [Ohio], pp.
84-5).