Scottish Enlightenment

The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish... Enlightenment. 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.

America's Founding Secret: What the... Scottish Enlightenment Taught Our Founding Fathers. In the history of America's founding, the names of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and other founding fathers loom large. But few Americans today would recognise the role played by such men as Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Dugald Stewart, David Hume and other philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. In this book, Robert W. Gavin, retired Chairman of the Board of Motorola, Inc. and one of America's most respected corporate leaders, reminds us of the fundamental debt that our founding fathers and this nation owe to this extraordinary group of Scottish thinkers. In the Scottish Enlightenment, America's founders themselves found the philosophical underpinnings for a government conceived and defined with the intent to promote economic progress in commerce based on private capital means. Concise and accessible, "America's Founding Secret" should change the way Americans look at their nation's beginning and remind us again of the fundamental connection between private enterprise and freedom that remains at the heart of the American experiment.

The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots'... Invention of the Modern World. Arthur Herman argues that Scotland's turbulent history, from William Wallace to the Presbyterian Lords of the Covenant, laid the foundations for 'the Scottish miracle'. Harsh economic reality compelled Scotland into the act of Union with England in 1707, a move considered by many Scots at the time to sound the death-knell for their country and its culture. Within decades, however, a remarkable circle of Scottish thinkers, including David Hume and Adam Smith, gave birth to the key assumptions that underlie modern politics, economics, morals and cultural life. The Scots went on to become the mainstays of the British Empire, infusing this system of exploitation with a spirit of co-operation. Emigration to America brought inspiration for the American Revolution, and ultimately, towering figures such as Alexander Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell fuelled the rise of America's capitalist democracy. Written with wit, erudition and clarity, The Scottish Enlightenment traces the pervasive influence of a nation and its people to claim their rightful place in the history of the western world.

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