Talk:Scottish Enlightenment

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[edit] Education, poverty

Eh? "Most backword country in Europe" ? During that time Scotland, with a school and a teacher in every parish, had the highest literacy rates of any country in Europe. That is why the "enlightenment" was able to take place. -- Anonymous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.252.128.7 (talk • contribs) 23:14, 18 July 2003 (UTC)

Absolutely agreed. Scotland was noted as "the poorest country in Europe" at that time, not "the most backward". -- Derek Ross | Talk 14:36, 30 July 2004 (UTC)
Point 1) The first education Act in modern Europe with any measure of cumpulsion was the Scottish Education Act of 1496, the second one in 1696 ensured provision of education in every parish. It is not clear from the article that the educational provision mentioned was Scottish only and PRE the Union of 1707. By contrast England had and continued to have, for over a hundred years, one of the poorest educational records in Europe.
Point 2) That Scotland was poor at the time of Union is beyond doubt, however, the existence of a much larger hostile nation on its border had more than a little to do with that. Naval blockades, trade embargos and tariffs, the Alien Act, the refusal to help the Darien Colony, the false information supplied by the English navy regarding the feasibility of the Darien scheme, the announcement that any trade done with Scotland would be regarded as an 'act of War'. Also Scotland was not always poor before the Union.
Point 3) The notion that Scotland's record of World class intellectual contribution began with the Union may be commonly believed in the chattering class meeting places of Glasgow or Edinburgh, but it is completely wrong. Duns Scotus in theology/philosophy, The long line of Makaris (from whose flour Chaucer feasted), Napier. The astonishing Gregory family, especially James Gregory who invented the reflecting telescope, and developed the calculus both acredited to Newton. He also was the first to derive a proof of the calculus and to devise what later would be called Taylor's series. He was the first to define a series for calculating PI, attributed to Leibniz and he was the first to recognise diffraction gratin spectra. That these facts are not at all well known does not change their existence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.17.149.4 (talk • contribs) 18:03, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
Yes Scotland may well have suffered from poverty but it certainly was not the poorest country in Western Europe. Ireland was easily the poorest out of the three kingdoms of the British Isles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.131.177.179 (talk • contribs) 14:54, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ruddiman

Would Thomas Ruddiman be properly considered a Scottish Enlightenment figure? --Dpr 08:08, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I would think so.Fenton Robb 10:08, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

One paper sees it in terms of "three generations, overlapping and closely related," with Ruddiman among the early precursor figures, and a bibliography says his publications place him in it. (Ruddiman lived 1674-1757; the span of the Scottish Enlightment is given variously as 1740s-1800, 1730-1800, etc.) — Athaenara ✉ 06:30, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Scottish Enlightenment philsophers and other writers

Would it be appropriate to add to this article a section listing the various philosophers and other writers who comprise the Scottish Enlightenment? If so, could someone who knows this subject (I don't) essay the task? I could start by clicking on "what links here" and finding articles about persons so identified, but I cannot add others, if any exist. Michael Hardy 19:15, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I added rudimentary descriptions and a baker's dozen or so more listees this morning. — Athaenara ✉ 00:05, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] John Locke

Firslty sorry about the poor formating im new to this, but i've noticed that in the article John Locke is listed as a scotish enlightenment figure, to my knowledge he was wholely anglo-saxon being born outside of bristol, allthough he probally had quite a lot of influence on scotlish liberal thinkers, i think its unfair to consider him a member of the scotish enlightenment. - Thefranzkafkafront 19:25, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Locke lived (1632-1704) elsewhere some two generations before the Scottish Enlightenment and was not a member of it. A statement in the Locke article, that his writings "along with those of many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers" influenced the American Revolution, clearly places him outside the SE as well. I have removed Locke from the list in the SE article; I will be interested to learn what SE thinkers considered his role, if any, to have been. — Athaenara ✉ 03:28, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccuracy

Urgh. After finding this paragraph, I wonder about the rest of this article.

"The first major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment was Francis Hutcheson, who held the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1729 to 1746. A moral philosopher with alternatives to the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, he founded one of the major branches of Scottish thinking, and opposed Hobbes' disciple David Hume. Hutcheson's major contribution to world thought was the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which brought the greatest good to the most people."

To some extent, David Hume was utilitarian as well. He was certainly NOT a disciple of Hobbes. I've cut out the sections which give this impression.--Nydas(Talk) 09:14, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Overemphasis on Hume

The overemphasis on Hume, especially the outrageous claim that he was "largely responsible for giving the Scottish Enlightenment its practical hue," is a very obvious problem. Even a merely cursory scan of the still incomplete list of Edinburgh luminaries who included chemists, botanists, geologists, farmers, engineers, etc. reveals that the claim simply isn't true. — Athaenara ✉ 08:34, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Consequentialist inconsistency

Slightly strange that this article says Hutcheson, as the first enlightend Scot, invented the consequentialist principle, but the Consequentialism article makes no mention of Hutcheson. Will add this to that discussion too. And add Hutcheson to that page somehow. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob Stein - VisiBone (talk • contribs) 13:23, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image

Could we have a group picture (these people were a close group, didn't they come together for some social act?)? Or some collective work or meeting place or monument representing them? --84.20.17.84 08:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)