Most Famous Scottish Enlightenment Philosophers
The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of unusual intellectual and scientific accomplishment in Scotland during the eighteenth century. Centered in Edinburgh and Glasgow, it produced foundational work in philosophy, economics, history, and natural science. Key figures include David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, and Adam Ferguson. Its philosophers emphasized empirical method, sociability, sentiment as a basis for morality, and the historical study of human institutions. The movement contributed decisively to modern social science and political economy.
Philosophers in this tradition
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David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist of the Scottish Enlightenment. In A Treatise of Human Nature and the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding he ad...
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William Hamilton
Sir William Hamilton, ninth Baronet of Preston, was a Scottish philosopher and the leading British philosophical figure of the mid nineteenth century. Professor of logic and met...
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Adam Ferguson
Adam Ferguson was an 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and historian, often regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology. His 1767 work An Essay on the Hist...
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Adam Smith
Adam Smith was an 18th-century Scottish moral philosopher and political economist, a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, and the founder of modern economics. His 1759 ...
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Francis Hutcheson
Francis Hutcheson was an Irish-born philosopher and the leading figure of the early Scottish Enlightenment. As professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow, he taught the young Adam...
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Henry Home, Lord Kames
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 ca...
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Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid was a Scottish philosopher and the founder of the Scottish school of Common Sense. He developed his philosophy in critical reaction to the empiricist tradition of Lo...