The Scottish Enlightenment

Adam Smith
Adam Smith

I was reading a post recently about The Enlightenment when I realised that it wasn’t The Enlightenment as I know it because to me it is The Scottish Enlightenment an 18th century movement. Then Scotland was described as a hotbed of genius. According to Voltaire:

‘We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation’

(‘Nous nous tournons vers l’Écosse pour trouver toutes nos idées sur la civilisation’)

Hume and Rousseau
Hume and Rousseau

So it was a bit of a slap in the face when it dawned on me that some people have absolutely no idea about The Scottish Enlightenment and indeed seem to think that The Enlightenment was an English/American entity.

The only explanation is that we in Scotland must just have been far too shy and retiring about it – instead of blowing our own trumpets as we should have been. I’m thinking of those tea towels which you see in tourist shops printed with all the famous discoveries and inventions and the Scots who were responsible for them! We need a tea towel with all of the 18th century movers and shakers of Scotland printed on it, Adam Smith, David Hume and the like. Did you know that The Encyclopaedia Brittanica was a product of the Scottish Enlightenment, founded in Edinburgh.
Enlightenment

But have I read anything by those luminaries? Have I whack! So it’s about time that I did and I’m setting myself a challenge to read at least one book by a Scottish Enlightenment figure – before the end of the year. It’ll fit nicely into the Read Scotland 2014 Challenge too. Join in if you think you’re brave enough!

The photographs are of just a few of the embroidered panels which make up The Great Tapestry of Scotland which is on show at The Scottish Parliament at the moment and entry is free.

10 thoughts on “The Scottish Enlightenment

  1. Interesting, Katrina! I did an OU course years ago on the Enlightenment and which included David Hume and Adam Smith as two of the great figures in the movement – not sure that’s the right term. So I read some of Hume’s works – think the books are up in the loft, so I haven’t checked what I did read. We studied some of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. I thought both were fascinating and I’d like to re-read Hume particularly. I’m looking forward to seeing what you choose.

    I really must see The Great Tapestry of Scotland!

    • Margaret,
      Well you’ll know a lot more about it than I do I’m sure, I know what you mean about ‘movement’ – I was stuck for the right word. I was thinking about reading something by Hume in particular so I definitely will now. I’ll have to see what I can find, I think I’d rather have an actual book rather than something on the Kindle.

  2. The United States of America was founded on the influences of the SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT. Our founding fathers,some direct descendants of Scotland,read many of the books of the time. William and Mary College, University of Virginia, Harvard, Yale, etc. all were steeped in their values,concepts of government, science, etc. Thomas Jefferson went into debt buying books from these great thinkers. We refer to this time as American Independence and the Founding Fathers, but we hopefully are aware of our debt to Scotland.

    • Lorraine,
      I did know that one of the ‘ivy league’ colleges had been set up by a Scot. That’s interesting about Jefferson’s book buying habit.

      I think that in Scotland we just have an inbuilt feeling for what is right and fair which goes a long way towards building a decent society – and THEY think we couldn’t cope with independence!

    • Nancy Burns,
      I must rectify it too.

      We just got back from Holland where we had a good time, staying about 20 minutes drive from Groningen, in a very rural area.

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