Scottish Enlightenment

Abstract

Between 1740 and 1790 Scotland provided one of the most distinguished branches of the European Enlightenment. David Hume and Adam Smith were the pre-eminent figures in this burst of intellectual activity; and around them clustered a galaxy of major thinkers, including Francis Hutcheson, Lord Kames, Adam Ferguson, William Robertson, Thomas Reid, Sir James Steuart and John Millar. The interests of individual thinkers ranged from metaphysics to the natural sciences; but the distinctive achievements of the Scottish Enlightenment as a whole lay in those fields associated with the enquiry into ‘the progress of society’ – history, moral and political philosophy and, not least, political economy. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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