Adam Smith and the Death of David Hume: The “Letter to Strahan” and Related Texts

The Letter to Strahan is an ostensible letter that Adam Smith wrote on the last days, death, and character of his closest friend, the philosopher David Hume, and published alongside Hume’s autobiography, My Own Life, in 1777. Other than his two books, it is the only work that Smith published under his name during his lifetime, and it elicited a great deal of commentary and controversy. Because of Hume’s reputation for impiety, Smith’s portrayal of his friend’s cheerfulness and equanimity during his final days provoked outrage among the devout. Smith later commented that this work “brought upon me ten times more abuse than the very violent attack I had made upon the whole commercial system of Great Britain”-meaning, of course, The Wealth of Nations. This is the first annotated version of this fascinating and important work.Along with the Letter to Strahan, the volume also includes Hume’s My Own Life, the work to which the Letter was a kind of companion piece; two personal letters related to the Letter; and three published responses to the Letter-two viciously critical and one generally favorable. A substantial editor’s introduction discusses the context, composition, publication, and significance of the Letter, along with the strong reaction that it provoked. Taken together, the works included in the volume provide an entertaining and accessible entree into some of the most controversial debates over religion and morality in the eighteenth century.

Reviews of Adam Smith and the Death of David Hume: The “Letter to Strahan” and Related Texts

Dennis Rasmussen has brought Adam Smith's famous letter on the death of David Hume together with an array of fascinating and witty responses to Smith. He also provides excellent notes on these documents and an extremely illuminating introduction, making clear how important Hume's death was to generations of religious people in Britain. This is an invaluable collection for scholars, but also very accessible to the general reader. I look forward to using it in my undergraduate classes, to introduce the 18th-century debate over the relationship between religion and morality. — Samuel Fleischacker, University of Illinois, Chicago Dennis Rasmussen's edition of Adam Smith's elegant and intensely controversial Letter to Strahan and of six associated texts (including Hume's autobiographical My Own Life, with which the Letter was originally published), is a splendid contribution to our understanding of Smith, Hume, and their context. In his engaging and learned Introduction, Rasmussen discusses the Letter and also, among other things, the question of the relation between morality and religion that vexed so many readers of Smith's tribute to Hume. Rasmussen's meticulously prepared volume is essential reading for anyone interested in Smith, Hume, or the Scottish Enlightenment. — Charles Griswold, Boston University This is an excellent collection of source texts with very helpful editorial guidance by Dennis Rasmussen. It will prove useful to scholars and students in the classroom. In addition, the material in this volume will be of interest to those curious about how to live a meaningful life in a commercial age. — Eric Schliesser, University of Amsterdam