Henry Home, Lord Kames 1696 – 1782
Henry Home, Lord Kames, was a Scottish judge, philosopher, and polymath and one of the central figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. From his seat on the Court of Session he carried on a vast correspondence with the philosophical and improving circles of his age, encouraging the young Adam Smith, David Hume, James Boswell, and many others. His Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, Elements of Criticism, and Sketches of the History of Man developed an empiricist moral philosophy, the first comprehensive theory of literary taste in English, and an ambitious conjectural history of human society passing through hunting, herding, agricultural, and commercial stages.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Scottish
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Scottish Enlightenment
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Henry Home, Lord Kames:
“Taste is the offspring of cultivation, not of mere instinct.”
-
Attributed to Henry Home, Lord Kames:
“The history of human society is the history of human faculties unfolding.”
-
Attributed to Henry Home, Lord Kames:
“Justice is the protection of property and of person, in that order of necessity.”
-
Attributed to Henry Home, Lord Kames:
“Common sense is the surest guide where philosophy fails.”
-
Attributed to Henry Home, Lord Kames:
“Every nation passes through stages of hunting, herding, farming, and commerce.”