The Social Theory of the Scottish Enlightenment

The social thought of historically significant thinkers such as David Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, Lord Kames, John Millar, James Dunbar and Gilbert Stuart, all of whom were at the heart of Scottish Enlightenment thought, is examined here, focusing on their accounts of social institutions, critiques of individualism, methodology and their views of progress and of moral and cultural values. The book aims to show how they produced important analyses of historical change, politics and morality, together with an assessment of their own commercial society.