The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment

Front Cover
Alexander Broadie
Cambridge University Press, Apr 10, 2003 - History - 366 pages
The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment offers a philosophical perspective on an eighteenth-century movement that has been profoundly influential on western culture. A distinguished team of contributors examines the writings of David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Adam Ferguson, Colin Maclaurin and other Scottish thinkers, in fields including philosophy, natural theology, economics, anthropology, natural science and law. In addition, the contributors relate the Scottish Enlightenment to its historical context and assess its impact and legacy in Europe, America and beyond. The result is a comprehensive and accessible volume that illuminates the richness, the intellectual variety and the underlying unity of this important movement. It will be of interest to a wide range of readers in philosophy, theology, literature and the history of ideas.

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Contents

The contexts of the Scottish Enlightenment
9
Religion and rational theology
31
The human mind and its powers
60
Anthropology the original of human nature
79
Science in the Scottish Enlightenment
94
Scepticism and common sense
117
Moral sense and the foundations of morals
136
The political theory of the Scottish Enlightenment
157
Legal theory
222
Sociality and socialisation
243
Historiography
258
Art and aesthetic theory
280
The impact on Europe
298
The impact on America Scottish philosophy and the American founding
316
The nineteenthcentury aftermath
338
Select bibliography
351

Economic theory
178
Natural jurisprudence and the theory of justice
205

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About the author (2003)

Alexander Broadie is Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at the University of Glasgow. His publications include Why Scottish Philosophy Matters (2000) and The Scottish Enlightenment: The Historical Age of the Historical Nation (2001).