The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of intellectual ferment in Scotland, running from approximately 1740 to 1800. Stirling Castle has stood for centuries atop a volcanic crag defending the lowest ford of the River Forth. ... The House of Alpin is a dynasty of Scottish kings that ruled Scotland from 843 to 1058. ... The House of Dunkeld or Canmore was a dynasty of Scottish kings that ruled Scotland from 1058 to 1290. ... The Hairfair dynasty is traditionally regarded as the first royal dynasty of the united Norway. ... The House of Balliol was a Scottish royal family in the 13th and 14th centuries. ... The House of Bruce was a Scottish Royal House in the 14th century. ... The House of Stuart or Stewart was a Scottish, and then British, Royal House of Breton origin. ... Walter Thomas Monningtons 1925 painting called Parliamentary Union of England and Scotland 1707 hangs in the Palace of Westminster depicting the official presentation of the law that formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain. ... Scottish colonization of the Americas consisted of a number of failed or abandoned settlements in North America, a colony at Darien, Panama and a number of wholly or largely Scottish settlements made as part of Great Britain. ... Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. ... Culture of Scotland - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This timeline is intended to be a brief guide to the main events in Scottish history over the centuries. ... Transport in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history Caledonia List of not fully sovereign nations Subdivisions of Scotland National parks (Scotland) Traditional music of Scotland Flower of Scotland Wars of Scottish Independence National Trust for Scotland Historic houses in Scotland Castles in Scotland Museums in Scotland Abbeys and priories in Scotland... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... 1800 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

In the period following the Act of Union 1707 Scotland's place in the world altered radically. Following the Reformation, many Scottish academics were teaching in great cities of mainland Europe but with the birth and rapid expansion of the new British Empire came a revival of philosophical thought in Scotland and a prodigious diversity of thinkers. Arguably the poorest country in western Europe in 1707, it was now able to turn its attentions to the wider world without the opposition of England. Scotland reaped the economic benefits of free trade within the British Empire together with with the intellectual benefits of having established Europe's first public education system since classical times. Under these twin stimuli, Scottish thinkers began questioning assumptions previously taken for granted; and with Scotland's traditional connections to France, then in the throes of the Enlightenment, the Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism. The Acts of Union were twin Acts of Parliament passed in 1707 (taking effect on 26 March) by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps The British Empire was the worlds first global power and the largest empire in human history, a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with the global maritime empires of... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... It has been suggested that Greco-Roman be merged into this article or section. ... ... Humanism is a broad category of active ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on our ability to rationally determine whats right. ...

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. Francis Hutcheson was the name of a famous father and son: Francis Hutcheson (philosopher) (1694-1746) Francis Hutcheson (songwriter) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The University of Glasgow is the largest of the three universities in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Events July 30 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded. ... Events January 8 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling April 16 - Battle of Culloden brings an end to the Jacobite Risings October 22 - The College of New Jersey is founded (it becomes Princeton University in 1896) October 28 - An earthquake demolishes Lima and Callao, in Peru Catharine de Ricci (born 1522... Thomas Hobbes portrait by John Michael Wright (National Portrait Gallery, London) Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588–December 4, 1679) was a noted English political philosopher, most famous for his book Leviathan (1651). ... David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776) (N.B. The birthdate is May 7 by the Gregorian reckoning of his time; this date being used by the International Humanist and Ethical Union when celebrating his birthday) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and, with Adam Smith and Thomas Reid... Utilitarianism (from the Latin utilis, useful) is a theory of ethics based on quantitative maximization of some good for society or humanity. ... Consequentialism is the belief that what ultimately matters in evaluating actions or policies of action are the consequences that result from choosing one action or policy rather than the alternative. ...

Hume himself is arguably the most important thinker in the Scottish Enlightenment; his moral philosophy eventually triumphed over Hutcheson's, and his investigations into political economy inspired his friend Adam Smith to more detailed work. Hume was largely responsible for giving the Scottish Enlightenment its practical hue, for he was concerned with the nature of knowledge, and developed ideas related to evidence, experience, and causation. Much of what is incorporated in the scientific method, and many modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion, were developed by him. Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... For other people named Adam Smith, see Adam Smith (disambiguation). ... The characterization element can require extended and extensive study, even centuries. ...

If Hume was primarily concerned with philosophy and worked less in economics, his ideas nevertheless led to important work in the latter field. Following Hume's impassioned defense of free trade, Adam Smith developed the concept and in 1776 published what is arguably the first work of modern economics -- The Wealth of Nations. This famous study had an immediate impact on British economic policy, and it still informs 21st century discussions on globalization and tariffs. These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... U.S. Economic Calendar Economics at the Open Directory Project Economics textbooks on Wikibooks The Economists Economics A-Z Institutions and organizations Bureau of Labor Statistics - from the American Labor Department Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA) National Bureau of Economic Research (USA) - Economics material from the organization... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... This article is about the year 1776. ... An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Adam Smith, published in 1776. ... In its most obvious sense, the 21st century spans from 2000 to 2099 in a popular sense and 2001 to 2100 in a more technical sense; however in a more abstract context the 21st Century could be said to have begun around 1990 with the end of the Cold War. ... Globalisation (or globalization) is a recent term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that result from dramatically increased international trade and cultural exchange. ... A tariff (sometimes known as a customs duty) is a tax on imported or exported goods. ...

The Scottish Enlightenment thinkers developed a "science of man", which built upon Hume's work in the field of moral philosophy and his studies of human nature. This was expressed historically in works by major Scottish thinkers such as Adam Ferguson, John Millar, and William Robertson, all of whom merged a scientific study of how humans behave in ancient and primitive cultures with a strong awareness of the determining forces of modernity. Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being Modern. Since the term Modern is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context. ...

The Scottish Enlightenment shifted focus from intellectual and economic matters to those specifically scientific. The harbinger of this shift was James Anderson, a doctor with an abiding interest in agronomy. While the Scottish Enlightenment is traditionally considered to have ended with this change (which occurred at the tail end of the 18th century), it is worth noting that disproportionately large Scottish contributions to British science and letters continued for another fifty years or so, thanks to such figures as James Hutton, James Watt, William Murdoch, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin and Sir Walter Scott. ... James Hutton, painted by Abner Lowe. ... This article is about the Scottish engineer and inventor. ... William Murdoch. ... James Clerk Maxwell (June 13, 1831–November 5, 1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, born in Edinburgh. ... The Right Honourable William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, GCVO, OM, PC, PRS (26 June 1824–17 December 1907) was a Scottish-Irish mathematical physicist and engineer, an outstanding leader in the physical sciences of the 19th century. ... Sir Walter Scott, Bart. ...

Further reading

• The Scottish Nation: A History 1700-2000 - T. M. Devine, 1999.
• How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It - Arthur Herman, 2001. ISBN 0609809997
• The Scottish Enlightenment: The Historical Age of the Historical Nation - Alexander Broadie, 2001. ISBN 1841581518
• America's Founding Secret: What the Scottish Enlightenment Taught Our Founding Fathers - Robert W. Galvin, 2002. ISBN 0742522806
• Crowded with Genius : The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind - James Buchan, 2003. ISBN 0060558881
• The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) - Alexander Broadie, ISBN 0521003237
• The Mark of the Scots: Their Astonishing Contributions to History, Science, Democracy, Literature, and the Arts - Duncan A. Bruce, ISBN 0806520604
• How the Scots Made America - Michael Fry, ISBN 0312338767
• Scotland: A New History - Michael Lynch, ISBN 0712698930

External links

• Northern Lights: How modern life emerged from eighteenth-century Edinburgh.
• Scottish Enlightenment - an introduction.
• The Scottish Enlightenment.