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Causation and the Leslie affair


A scandalous matter now forgotten, even among historians of philosophy, the "Leslie affair" may be a turning point of some significance in the debates over causation in Anglophonic philosophy. 

John Leslie (1766 - 1832) was a Scottish mathematician and physicist. In 1804 he published a book on  the nature and properties of heat that earned him some favorable attention among the cutting edge scientists of the day. 

In 1805 the University of Edinburgh decided to make him professor of mathematics. BUT ... there was surprising kickback from church officials on the ground that Leslie had said positive things about David Hume and about Hume's understanding of causation as the mere fact of constant and invariable sequence.  

The establishment saw this notion as a danger to the accepted religion, and specifically to any cosmological argument for the existence of God as a First Cause.  Causation has to mean something, some REASON WHY some sequences are invariable, for that argument to have any persuasive power. 

Mary Shepherd, a philosopher I believe I have mentioned in this blog before, wrote her own essay on causation in large part as a contribution to the Leslie controversy.  Her arguments tend to strengthen the significance of the nation of causation, indirectly supporting the opponents of the Leslie appointment.  

Nonetheless, Leslie got the job.  In 1817 he published a book that acquired some renown, on the PHILOSOPHY OF ARITHMETIC. I have no idea what position he took on the issue of arithmetic.  Could this be a precursor to the Russell-Whitehead work of nearly a century later? 

I don't know.  If true, that would be fitting, since Russell like Leslie was an admirer of David Hume. 

It is worth pondering. 

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  1. HenryFebruary 6, 2026 at 7:12 AM

    In "The Secret Connexion: Causation, Realism, and David Hume" (rev. ed. 2014), Galen Strawson showed that Hume did not believe that causation was the mere fact of constant and invariable sequence. He believed that that was all we could perceive it to be, but it nevertheless existed. Whether his belief that it existed, without a some REASON WHY some sequences are invariable, admittedly lacks persuasive power.

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