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Scottish philosophy is a philosophical tradition created by philosophers belonging to Scottish universities. Although many philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson,
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...
,
Thomas Reid Thomas Reid (; 7 May (Julian calendar, O.S. 26 April) 1710 – 7 October 1796) was a religiously trained Scotland, Scottish philosophy, philosopher best known for his philosophical method, his #Thomas_Reid's_theory_of_common_sense, theory of ...
, and
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...
are familiar to almost all philosophers it was not until the 19th century that the notion of 'Scottish philosophy' became recognized and highly regarded internationally. In the 20th century, however, this tradition declined as Scottish-educated philosophers left for England.


Medieval Scotland

Early philosophy served theology, that is the study of god and religion. Naturally, this emphasized the origins of sin and the corruption of human nature. The main topics of medieval philosophy include areas that are still studied in philosophy today. These topics related to the philosophy of religion which was also created during that time. Philosophy of religion contains many traditional philosophical problems that are presently still discussed, these being firstly the problem of the compatibility of the divine attributes. This refers to how that arises when we say that God can be omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnibenevolent (all benevolent). Secondly, the problem of evil, which tries to address the contradiction that arises when explaining the creation of if God is all good and all knowing. Thirdly, the problem of the compatibility of divine foreknowledge with human free will. This is a continuation of the problem of evil as human free will is used to respond to the problem of evil but creates another contradiction with divine foreknowledge. In the
High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...
, a Scottish philosopher,
John Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot";  – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...
(1265-1308) made significant impressions on the areas of
natural theology Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as ...
, metaphysics, the theory of knowledge, ethics and moral philosophy. Natural theology is the effort to establish the existence and nature of God through argument. Scotus’s stance on natural theology is that human beings can come to know God in ways apart from revelation. Scotus believes that all our knowledge is derived from our experience of sensible things and from this beginning, we can come to grasp God.


Renaissance Scotland

During the 15th century, Scotland established three universities that were to become the foundation of Scottish philosophical tradition, these were
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
, the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
and the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
. Scottish philosophy was compulsory to all university students. While this pre-enlightenment period was primarily focused on the rehabilitation of the philosophy of their predecessors – writings of the Platonic and Aristotelian modes – this period was not without its accomplishments. The invention of the logarithmic tables by
John Napier John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8 ...
(1550-1617) allowed the development of the sciences, while significant contributions to science were made by other Scots such as James Gregory (1638-75),
Robert Sibbald Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish physician and antiquary. Life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of David Sibbald (brother of Sir James Sibbald) and Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672). Educated at t ...
(1641-1722) and Archibald Pitcairne (1652-1713). In the second half of the 17th century, Scottish universities developed their own form of
Cartesianism Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes i ...
, influenced in large part by Reformed Scholasticism of the first half of the 17th century. Mention of Descartes first appeared in the graduation theses by regent Andrew Cant for Marischal College, the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
in 1654. Cartesianism was very successful in Scottish universities. Until the end of the 1660s, the universities gradually incorporated occasional Cartesianism themes into the scholastic structure of the curriculum. Later, in the 1670s the curriculum was consolidated and structured according to the order of exposition of the new philosophy.


18th century

Scottish philosophy of this time overlaps with the period of
Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (, ) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Sco ...
. The Enlightenment was a period of rapid expansion of knowledge in all academic disciplines not limited to philosophy. Scottish philosophers of this time were extensively studied. The prominent ideas of this century include
aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
,
moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...
,
natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...
,
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
, common sense philosophy, etc.


Natural law

The idea of "
natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...
" can first be found in ''Supplements and Observations upon Samuel Pufendorf's On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to the Law of Nature'' by Gershom Carmichael, which says that we are required to do what God prescribes to us as a sign of love and veneration. Failure to act in the prescribed manner is interpreted by God as expressing contempt or hatred. Natural law has two precepts which are distinguished as immediate and mediate duties. The first precept is the idea that we have an immediate duty to worship God so that he may receive our love and veneration for him. The second precept covers our mediate duties of promoting the common good by treating others well. These precepts form the foundation of natural law. The central figure of this narrative is God, hence before the application of the precepts in our duty as worshipers, we must first acknowledge God as the creator and ruler of the universe and all that resides within it.


Moral philosophy

"Moral philosophy" is the idea that to be morally good one must be motivated by benevolence and a desire for the happiness of others. The idea of moral philosophy was can be traced to Francis Hutcheson's work, '' A System of Moral Philosophy'', first published in Glasgow in 1755. Hutcheson's moral philosophy emerged as a reaction to Hobbes'
psychological egoism Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefit ...
and Clarke and Wollaston's rationalism. The main objection was to the idea that compassion and benevolence are due to the calculations of self-interest and that people should be discouraged from making others sympathetic towards themselves since this reflected their self-interests and was therefore dishonest. Hutcheson believed that moral knowledge is gained through our moral senses, of which there are three, these senses are separate from our external five senses. The three senses are the public sense, the moral sense and the sense of honour. Public sense refers to how we empathize with the happiness or misery of others. The moral sense is how we perceive the good and bad ourselves and others and our reaction to that manifestation. Sense of honour our reaction of approval or praise when we see or commit a good action. Features of Hutcheson’s moral philosophy appear in his aesthetic theory, particularly his theory of our moral sense of beauty and the pleasure we take in it, which is not simply incidental to perceiving beauty.


Aesthetics

Lord Kames defines beauty as anything that you can derive pleasure from in his '' Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion''. Something is considered beautiful when it is regarded with respect to its purpose while an object that is poorly designed or has no purpose may be considered ugly. Therefore, a house may be considered beautiful in light of its purpose as a human residence. Objects that are beautiful may give rise to the feeling of pleasure in the observer. Thus, a ship may give pleasure because it is elegantly shaped as well as because it facilitates trade which in turn is a positive beneficial exchange. Likewise, pleasure can be applied to human action, actions that carry a positive intent such as acts of generosity towards a worthy recipient can be considered beautiful. This derivation of pleasure from the display of generosity or other virtues can be traced to the original constitution of our nature, that is that we experience pleasure through no conscious decision of our own when we see beauty.


19th century

The influence of
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
and
German idealism German idealism is a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...
on the philosophical tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment changed the philosophical agenda in the 19th century. Enlightenment thinking became less important and the "science of the mind" was discussed. Logic, also known as the philosophy of truth and reason and the philosophy of perception dominated, whereby human understanding evolves through increasing human experience and knowledge. Since the aim of philosophy was to reconcile the seemingly incompatible elements in the human experience, Scottish Idealists welcomed the growth of the natural sciences, especially biology as a source of new material for continual evolutionary development of human understanding. Thomas Brown's philosophy of the mind was reminiscent of on Hume's empirical phenomenalism and did not make any reference to Thomas Reid's principles of common sense. Brown was speculated to be critical of Reid, although it was also hinted that the target of his criticisms was directed at Steward. The influence of the German philosophical movement was brought into the Scottish philosophical tradition by Sir William Hamilton who combined Reid's common-sense philosophy with logic and Kant's philosophy. His essays on a review of
Victor Cousin Victor Cousin (; ; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of " eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. ...
's lectures and ''The Philosophy of Perception'' brought attention among the community to Kant and post-Kantian philosophy. Another ambassador was
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
, whose ''
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays ''Critical and Miscellaneous Essays'' is the title of a collection of reprinted reviews and other magazine pieces by the Scottish people, Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle. Along with ''Sartor Resartus'' and ''The French ...
'' introduced many English speakers to German philosophy, and whose own contributions make him a prominent figure in the Scottish philosophical tradition. Scottish philosophy began to acquire a self-conscious identity, which according to
James McCosh James McCosh (April 1, 1811 – November 16, 1894) was a philosopher of the Scottish School of Common Sense. He was president of Princeton University 1868–88. Biography McCosh was born into a Covenanter, Covenanting family in Ay ...
, now consists of two opposing strands: the first is the materialism of Alexander Bain, and second the
Hegelianism Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...
of Edward Caird. McCosh's knowledge of the Scottish philosophical tradition came from his studies at the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
, and later at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
where he attended Hamilton's lectures as a divinity student. McCosh defined the heart of Scottish philosophy as the combination of observational methods of inquiry combined with moral and religious formation. From McCosh's perspective, the increasing popularity of Scottish philosophical school was a step in a different direction from the original methods and moral and religious standpoints. While the materialism of Bain retained the original observational methods, it abandoned moral formation. Additionally, the Idealism of Caird abandoned religious formation. To McCosh this signalled the demise of the Scottish philosophical tradition. McCosh was hopeful that the rise of cultural and intellectual independence of the United States would provide a fertile ground for the birth of a new American philosophy that would preserve the best of Scottish philosophical tradition. Scottish philosophy had a strong influence on the development of
Australian philosophy Australian philosophy refers to the philosophical tradition of the people of Australia and of its citizens abroad. Academic philosophy has been mostly pursued in universities (and sometimes seminaries). It has been broadly in the tradition of Anglo ...
, especially through the persons of the first professors of philosophy at
Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
and
Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...
, Sir Francis Anderson and Henry Laurie, and John Anderson,
Challis Professor The Challis Professorship are professorships at the University of Sydney named in honour of John Henry Challis, an Anglo-Australian merchant, landowner and philanthropist, whose bequests to the University of Sydney allowed for their establishmen ...
of Philosophy at Sydney University from 1927 to 1958.


20th century

By the 20th century, the identity of Scottish philosophy came into decline and the distinction between Scottish and English philosophy began to be impractical. This is due to the increase in communication and movement between Scotland and England due to advances in transport. Traveling between Edinburgh and London could be accomplished in ten and a half hours via the Flying Scotsman, an express train service. This same journey would have taken two weeks in 1753 when a stagecoach service first operated. Traditionally, the continuation of Scottish philosophy relied on the teachers being succeeded by their students. The second half of the nineteenth century broke this relation as Scottish-educated philosophers left for England. Eventually, the changing social, political and economic conditions resulted in reforms that revitalized the university curriculum. Scottish philosophy came to be one subject among many.


See also

* Scottish common sense realism


References

{{Scotland topics Religion in Scotland