Religion and the Science of Human Nature in the Scottish Enlightenment

Springer Verlag (2023)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This book examines how enlightened Scottish social theorists c.1740 to c.1800 understood the origin and development of religion. Challenging scholarly disregard for the topic, it shows how most prominent thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment thought deeply about the relationship between religion, human nature and historical change. The Scots viewed this relationship as an important strand within the study of the 'science of human nature' and the 'history of man.' The fruits of this investigation were a sophisticated and innovative account of religious change that is characterized by a striking modernity and naturalism, even by the more devout theorists. The views of the literati surveyed here need to be incorporated into our larger histories of the 'science of religion' as much as they do into our understanding of the social theory of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

2024

ISBN(s)

9783031490309   9783031490316   3031490304

DOI

10.1007/978-3-031-49031-6
View all bargains

Buy this book

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,475

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Chapters

Introduction

This book surveys the main contributions of the enlightened Scottish “science of man” that examined the relationship between human nature, society and religious belief and practice. The introduction briefly outlines what the Scottish “science of human nature” was, how its discussion of religion diff... see more

The Radicalism of James Hutton

James Hutton’s three-volume Principles of Knowledge and the Progress of Reason (1794) was one of the last works of the High Scottish Enlightenment. Hutton maintained an optimistic deism and a belief in the forthcoming triumph of philosophy. The Progress contained a radical theory of religious improv... see more

William Robertson on Revelation and the Limits of Progress

Spanning four decades and several different approaches to historical analysis, each of William Robertson’s published discussions of religious change contained a different emphasis. The Situation of the World (1755) explained the necessity of Christ’s mission given the particular societal conditions ... see more

Conclusion

The Scottish Enlightenment’s science of human nature had the quality of an ongoing conversation by a group of thinkers debating the same themes and issues, dealing with similar concerns, with frequently overlapping arguments, but each with their own distinct position. The Scots explored: the dangers... see more

James Burnett, Lord Monboddo on Egyptian Daemons

The peculiar characteristics of Lord Monboddo’s discussion of religion help clarify what is distinct and about the Scottish Enlightenment’s approach to the subject. Found in the latter volumes of his Origin and Progress of Language (1773–1792) and especially his Antient Metaphysics (1779–1799), Monb... see more

Adam Smith on Religious Psychology in Society

Hume’s most sophisticated contemporary interlocutor was his friend Adam Smith (1723–1790). Smith treated religion in a naturalistic fashion, as a subject not framed by theological concepts and biblical frameworks derived from scripture, but as something analysed in terms of psychological, social and... see more

John Gregory on Human Nature, Happiness and Religious Devotion

In his A Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man (1765), John Gregory set out a well-observed account of the alternative effects of religious devotion and scepticism on happiness of humankind. Our natural religious propensities direct us to comforting devotional beliefs in the face of lif... see more

David Hume’s “Natural History of Religion” (1757)

Hume’s NHR was the most significant contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment’s study of religion, a constant provocation to his contemporaries, and a text of enduring importance. Hume’s argument is striking because his naturalistic treatment of religious change was in no way linked to a sense of a... see more

David Hume and the Emptiness of Natural Religion

This chapter surveys Hume’s discussion of the relationship between religious belief and human nature in works aside from the “Natural History of Religion” (1757). The religious consequences of Hume’s arguments in the Treatise of Human Nature (1739–1740) were largely left implicit. From his Essays, M... see more

George Campbell on Miracles and the Weakness of Hume’s “Science of Man”

George Campbell’s Dissertation on Miracles (1762) contained the first volley of the Aberdeen Enlightenment’s challenge to Hume’s writings on religion. Campbell’s criticisms of Hume’s approach to judging testimonial evidence raised larger questions about the credibility of Hume’s “science of man.” Wi... see more

Dugald Stewart, Religion and the End of the “Science of Human Nature”

Our final study examines one of early nineteenth-century Europe’s foremost moral philosophers, Dugald Stewart (1753–1828), who sort to defend the legacy of Scottish Enlightenment philosophy. In his writings on religious topics, Stewart aimed to defuse the irreligious elements of Hume’s analysis by s... see more

Religion and the Start of the Science of Human Nature: Campbell, Turnbull and Hume

This opening chapter argues that religion, far from being of secondary importance to the High Scottish Enlightenment’s (1740–1800) “science of man,” was a central topic. The focus is on the first three major publications of that science: Archibald Campbell’s The Necessity of Revelation (1739), David... see more

James Dunbar on Climate and Civil Religion

We find a characteristically Aberdonian emphasis on the historical truth and necessity of Christianity in James Dunbar’s Essays on the History of Mankind in Rude and Cultivated Ages (1780). The Essays are further evidence of the generic variety of the contributions of the Aberdeen Enlightenment, but... see more

Adam Ferguson, Stoicism and the Individual Alone

Adam Ferguson’s changing views on the relationship between religion, human nature and society contained an increasingly strong deistic or Stoic element. He argued that the religious propensities of human nature direct us towards theistic belief but, equally, that these propensities were easily bent ... see more

Henry Home, Lord Kames on Mechanistic Human Nature

In his Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (1751) and Sketches of the History of Man (1774), Henry Home (Lord Kames from 1752) authored two of the most comprehensive and ambitious treatments of religion published during the Scottish Enlightenment. Each work utilised a distinct ... see more

Similar books and articles

Religion, scepticism and John Gregory’s therapeutic science of human nature.R. J. W. Mills - 2020 - History of European Ideas 46 (7):916-933.
2. The ‘Almost Wilfully Perverse’ Lord Monboddo and the Scottish Enlightenment’s Science of Human Nature.R. J. W. Mills - 2021 - In R. J. W. Mills & Craig Smith (eds.), The Scottish Enlightenment: Human Nature, Social Theory and Moral Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Christopher J. Berry. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 49-70.
Egyptomania and religion in James Burnett, Lord Monboddo’s ‘History of Man’.R. J. W. Mills - 2021 - History of European Ideas 47 (1):119-139.
1. Scottish Enlightenment Settings for the Discussion of the ‘Science of Man’.Roger L. Emerson - 2021 - In R. J. W. Mills & Craig Smith (eds.), The Scottish Enlightenment: Human Nature, Social Theory and Moral Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Christopher J. Berry. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 26-48.
William Falconer’s Remarks on the Influence of Climate(1781) and the study of religion in Enlightenment England.R. J. W. Mills - 2018 - Intellectual History Review 28 (2):293-315.
The Science of Human Nature in the Scottish Enlightenment.Esther Engels Kroeker - 2020 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 18 (3):227-232.
3. The Rough Edges of Civilisation in the Scottish Enlightenment.Craig Smith - 2021 - In R. J. W. Mills & Craig Smith (eds.), The Scottish Enlightenment: Human Nature, Social Theory and Moral Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Christopher J. Berry. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 71-97.
Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment.Gordon Graham - 2015 - In Scottish Philosophy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Archibald Campbell's Necessity of Revelation —the Science of Human Nature's First Study of Religion.R. J. W. Mills - 2015 - History of European Ideas 41 (6):728-746.
Studies in the philosophy of the Scottish enlightenment.Michael Alexander Stewart (ed.) - 1990 - New York: Oxford University Press.
A Comparative Analysis of David Hume’s Views on Human Nature and Society with Robert Louis Stevenson’s in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.Drew Liquerman - manuscript
The Scottish Enlightenment: Essays in Reinterpretation (review).Stephen Buckle - 2002 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 40 (3):404-405.
Thomas Reid and the Common Sense School.Paul Wood - 2015 - In Aaron Garrett & James Anthony Harris (eds.), Scottish Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century, Volume I: Morals, Politics, Art, Religion. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Francis Hutcheson:'Father'of the Scottish Enlightenment.Thomas D. Campbell - 1982 - In Campbell & Skinner (ed.), The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment. pp. 167--85.
Social science and human flourishing: The scottish enlightenment and today.Ryan Patrick Hanley - 2009 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 7 (1):29-46.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-02-07

Downloads
6 (#1,451,665)

6 months
6 (#510,434)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Rose Mills
University of Manchester

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references