The 18th century intellectual movement centered in Edinburgh and Glasgow that produced some of the most influential philosophical work of its era through figures like David Hume, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, and Francis Hutcheson. The Scottish Enlightenment took human sociability seriously as the foundation of moral and political life, in contrast to the more individualist French and English traditions, and laid the groundwork for modern moral philosophy, economics, and social theory.
Tradition
Scottish Enlightenment
The 18th century intellectual movement centered in Edinburgh and Glasgow that produced some of the most important philosophical work of its era.
Thinkers
Thinker
Adam Smith
1723–1790
Adam Smith was the Scottish Enlightenment moral philosopher who founded modern liberal political economy and grounded markets in human sympathy rather than selfishness
ThinkerDavid Hume
1711–1776
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher whose skeptical empiricism grounded politics in custom and sentiment, pairing conservative respect for institutions with liberal gradualism
Defining tradition for
Related through shared thinkers