44 Economic Theory and Natural Philosophy

natural order. The paramount importance of Natural Theology is that

natural and moral philosophy were subordinate to it. Natural Theology
gave the vision with which natural and moral philosophers viewed the
universe. This relationship came full circle when the results of natural and
moral philosophy confirmed the natural order that Natural Theology
presupposed, thus giving Natural Theology its claim of being based on
scientific conclusions and methods. This is clearly expressed by the great
Scottish disciple of Newton, Colin MaClaurin:

Natural science is subservient to purpose of a higher kind, and is chiefly

to be valued as it lays a sure foundation for Natural Religion and Moral
Philosophy; by leading us, in a satisfactory manner, to the knowledge of
the Author and Governor of the universe ... To study Nature is to study
into His workmanship; every new discovery opens up to us a new part
of his scheme (quoted in Randall, p. 275).

Since the moral and physical universe were two aspects of one overall
design, a similar method to discover this plan should be adopted. This, of
course, is the foundation upon which methodological monism rests, and
without this implicit belief the presumption of the similarity of the social
and natural sciences is greatly weakened.
In The Nature of Social Laws, Robert Brown (1984, pp. 10-11) shows
how the idea of a similarity between the origins and functions of social and
physical laws affected social theory:

Because the two sets of laws were supposed not to differ in their essential
features, the physical laws which regulated the course of Nature were
thought of as moral commandments issued to an obedient Nature, and
moral laws as the natural regularities which Society both should, and
largely did, obey. This assimilation of natural and social laws to the
directives laid down by a Divine Legislator, in pursuit of His scheme of
salvation for mankind, made it difficult to discuss the features of Society
without moralizing; or to discuss the features of Society without
mistaking them for aspects of eternal Nature. Thus the interpretation
both of natural regularities and of social observations as being embodied
commandments had the effect, well recognized and much supported by
religious belief, of discouraging the separate investigation of either one
of them.

The basic belief of Natural Theology was: the existence of a benevolent

God who created the Universe and the natural laws which regulate the
Universe. God's effect on the day-to-day operation of the universe was
through His laws, and not through intervention (miracles, invisible hand of
Jupiter). Knowledge of God and His design was to be had through