Introduction: Scottish Philosophy in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World (original) (raw)
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This volume of essays considers the philosophical and historical significance of common sense philosophy in the Scottish Enlightenment. As one of eighteenthcentury Scotland's most original intellectual products, common sense philosophy dominated the teaching of moral philosophy and the "science of the mind" at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen universities during the last quarter of the century, and also informed many Presbyterian clergymen's treatment of human nature from the pulpit.¹ Reflecting on the importance of this philosophical system, which was widely known as "the Scottish philosophy" by the nineteenth century, the Presbyterian divine and philosopher James McCosh wrote:
A Defence of Scottish Common Sense
Philosophical Quarterly, 2002
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A Bibliography of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy
This is a bibliography of the twelve most important Scottish philosophers associated with the common sense school. They are, alphabetically, John Abercrombie, James Beattie, Thomas Brown, George Campbell, James Dunbar, David Fordyce, Alexander Gerard, William Hamilton, Henry Home Lord Kames, James Oswald, Thomas Reid, and Dugald Stewart.
Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 2016
Book Reviews arguments. She connects his response to skepticism with his assertion that 'reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions' (T 2.3.3.4). Proceeding directly to Book 3 of the Treatise, Frykholm traces Hume's debts to and differences with Shaftesbury and Hutcheson. In her view, the main themes of Hume's philosophy remained constant throughout the rest of his career. Whereas Hume wrote moral philosophy like a detached anatomist, he intended his History of England to elicit appropriate moral sentiments from readers (though he aims for political impartiality). Frykholm also sketches Hume's failures to obtain an academic post, his travels, publication history, falling out with Rousseau, and death. As these samplings show, this eclectic Companion successfully evokes the expansive and richly variegated philosophical landscape of the eighteenth century, casting familiar figures and topics in new light and suggesting many fresh lines of inquiry for researchers.
British Enlightement and Scottish Common Sense Philosphy in Relation to American Transcendentalim
Transcendentalists tended to define their metaphysical philosophy as well as their epistemology in opposition to the British Enlightenment philosophy of the eighteenth century. , and other students at Harvard, absorbed but then rejected not only the neoclassical literary authors on their college curriculum (such as Addison and Pope) but also the materialism of John Locke (in Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1690]) as well as the skepticism of David Hume (in A Treatise of Human Nature [1739-1740]). The young Emerson at Harvard adopted the Scottish Common Sense philosophies of Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart to defend his and his Harvard professors' much-cherished notions of the stability of the individual consciousness, the divine origins of the conscience, and the capacious powers of the human mind against the severe philosophies of Locke and especially Hume. Margaret Fuller's program of study-outside the walls of Harvard, which were closed to woman-similarly included the Scottish Common Sense philosophers Dugald Stewart and Thomas Brown. And while at Harvard, Thoreau, like Emerson, was asked to write essays on human reason and morality and accordingly checked out books based on upon the philosophy of Locke (James Burgh's The Dignity of Human Nature [1754] and Abraham Tucker's Light of Nature Pursued [1768-78]) as well as those from the Scottish School (e.g., Samuel Bailey's Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions [1821]). The turn to Scottish Common Sense philosophy not only signaled the Transcendentalists' desire for a less skeptical philosophy of human knowledge but also for an unequivocal explanation of moral discernment about human conduct. Most broadly, the turn to the Scots revealed a mentalité focused on the social dimensions of human nature, and particularly upon morality, aspects not always acknowledged by scholars of Transcendentalism, who have tended to focus on their individualism, epistemology, and their metaphysics. For the social and moral lines of inquiry, Transcendentalists were heavily indebted to British Enlightenment thinkers, including those not counted among the school of