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Enlightenment, Scottish

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-DB026-1
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DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-DB026-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/enlightenment-scottish/v-1

1. Overview

The Scottish Enlightenment may be conveniently dated from the publication of Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40; see Hume, D.) to the revised sixth edition of Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (1790; see Smith, A.) It can be fairly described as a ‘movement’ since it was not confined to a handful of authors but encompassed upwards of fifty participants, who all either knew or were aware of each other. Unlike in France, the Enlightenment in Scotland had strong institutional and establishment roots being based in the universities and the various satellite groups and societies to which even non-academics like Hume and James Hutton or law-lords like Henry Home (Lord Kames) and James Burnett (Lord Monboddo) belonged. As a movement it was also multifaceted. Scientific theory and experiment were well represented. Some of Isaac Newton’s earliest disciples were Scottish, including, notably, Colin Maclaurin. Important work was undertaken by William Cullen and Joseph Black in chemistry and at the end of the period Hutton laid the foundation for uniformitarian geology. Literary theory was also prominent with treatises on rhetoric by George Campbell (1776); and Hugh Blair (1783); disquisitions on taste by Alexander Gerard (1759), and many others, plus pioneering works of literary criticism by Thomas Blackwell (notably Blackwell 1735). In philosophy a number of Scots, led by Reid, developed their own Common Sense School, which was stimulated by Hume’s perceived scepticism and was critical of the entire ‘way of ideas’ (see Common Sense School; Reid, T.).

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Citing this article:
Berry, Christopher J.. Overview. Enlightenment, Scottish, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-DB026-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/enlightenment-scottish/v-1/sections/overview.
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