During the seventeenth century Scots produced many high quality philosophical writings, writings that were very much part of a wider European philosophical discourse. Yet today Scottish philosophy of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries is widely studied, but that of the seventeenth century is only now beginning to receive the attention it deserves. This volume begins by placing the seventeenth-century Scottish philosophy in its political and religious contexts, and then investigates the writings of the philosophers in the areas of logic, metaphysics, politics, ethics, law, and religion. It is demonstrated that in a variety of ways the Scottish Reformation impacted on the teaching of philosophy in the Scottish universities. It is also shown that until the second half of the century—and the arrival of Descartes on the Scottish philosophy curriculum—the Scots were teaching and developing a form of Reformed orthodox scholastic philosophy, a philosophy that shared many features with the scholastic Catholic philosophy of the medieval period. By the early eighteenth century Scotland was well placed to give rise to the spectacular Enlightenment that then followed, and to do so in large measure on the basis of its own well-established intellectual resources. Among the many thinkers discussed are Reformed orthodox, Episcopalian, and Catholics philosophers including George Robertson, George Middleton, John Boyd, Robert Baron, Mark Duncan, Samuel Rutherford, James Dundas (first Lord Arniston), George Mackenzie, James Dalrymple (Viscount Stair), and William Chalmers.

This volume in the new history of Scottish philosophy covers the Scottish philosophical tradition as it developed over the eighteenth century.

A study of Scottish thinkers and writers in their political and cultural context. The "advancement of learning" was the term used by late seventeenth-century Scots for intellectual enquiry of all kinds. Encouraged by Stuart patronage, and echoing a Royalist ideology of continuity and order following the chaos of the Civil War, the "Virtuosi", Scottish writers and thinkers, sought to define Scotland's identity. They undertook structured, empirical enquiry into Scottish natural history and geography, human history and antiquities, law and society, while the legal and medical professions developed their status and purpose through institutions such as the Royal College of Physicians and the Advocates' Library. They both complemented and eclipsed the changing intellectual life of the Church and Universities. This book considers the work of leading authors, such as Sir George Mackenzie, Sir Robert Sibbald and Lord Stair, alongside the many other voices engaged in learned research and debate, examining their shared or contrasting philosophy and methods. It shows how a distinctively Scottish take on the "Scientific Revolution" was enhanced by close contacts with the Royal Society and English thinkers, and a conscious membership of the European Republic of Letters.

Common sense philosophy was one of the Scottish Enlightenment's most original intellectual products. The nine specially written essays in this volume explore the philosophical and historical significance of this school of thought, recovering the ways in which it developed during the long eighteenth century.

Volume XXIX/2 of History of Universities contains the customary mix of learned articles and book reviews which makes this publication such an indispensable tool for the historian of higher education. This special issue, guest edited by Alexander Broadie, particularly focuses on Seventeenth-Century Scottish Philosophers and their Philosophy. The volume is, as always, a lively combination of original research and invaluable reference material.

Many previous works on Scottish Philosophy have tended to concentrate exclusively on the Scottish Enlightenment. Yet, two and a half centuries prior to that period, a circle of Scottish philosophers gained Europe-wide appreciation for their work. This study attempts to correct this bias in the history of thought. Broadie looks at the evolution of the subject from the beginning of the sixteenth-century in Scotland. He relates ideas and concerns in philosophy previous to the Enlightenment to those which followed, thereby revealing important similarities between the two. This is done in a highly accessible manner which makes these ideas available to the general reader for the first time. Contents: Introduction; The Mirror of Wisdom: ^R Philosophy in the Scots Tongue; The Circle of John Mair; Knowledge; Ways of Saying 'Yes'; Freewill and Grace; The Post-Medieval Period; A Science of Human Nature; The Common Sense Reaction; Hume on Belief and Will; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index^R

This is the first volume of the series Oxford Studies in the History of Philosophy. Each volume of the series is organized around a particular theme, and is cross-disciplinary in its approach. In this collection of substantial new studies in Scottish Philosophy in the age of Hutcheson andHume, close attention is given to the study of context and the use of original historical sources as a key to philosophical interpretation. The collection includes revolutionary research on Hume's early reading in science and religion and its impact on his philosophy.