Henry Home, Lord Kames, and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Study in National Character and in the History of Ideas

1. Front Matter

   Pages N2-XXVI

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2. Chiefly Biographical and Historical

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-3

      PDF

   2. Family Background and Early Years

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 4-16

   3. The Years of His Advocateship

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 17-30

   4. Lord Kames as Lord of Session and Lord of Justiciary

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 31-43

   5. The High-Court Judge and the World of Letters: Historical and Biographical

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 44-62

   6. At Home and among Friends: Domestic Relations and Sociability

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 63-80

   7. ‘I Fly to my Farm’: A Gentleman Farmer in Overalls

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 81-96

   8. ‘For the Good of My Country’: A Study in Public Spirit and Public Service

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 97-116

   9. Political Activities and Concern with Public Affairs

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 117-130

   10. Personal Credo and Life Values

       • William C. Lehmann

       Pages 131-141

   11. Summary Characterization of Kames the Man

       • William C. Lehmann

       Pages 142-152

3. Chiefly Theoretical: Lines of Kames’s Thinking and His Contributions to the World of Ideas

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-161

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   2. Common-Sense Philosopher and Observer of the Ways of Men

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 162-176

   3. Through the Eyes of Clio: The Historical Approach

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 177-194

   4. Kames’s Philosophy of Law; or, His General View of Jurisprudence

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 195-219

   5. Literary Criticism and the Question of Style in Writing

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 220-234

   6. Education and the Status of Women and Some Anthropological Miscellanies

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 235-254

   7. Political and Economic Theory

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 255-269

   8. The High-Court Judge and Common-Sense Philosopher Looks at Religion

      • William C. Lehmann

      Pages 270-283

The purpose of the present study is to present the life and work and thought of a remarkable pioneering figure on the Scottish scene over the middle half, broadly, of the eighteenth century, in their dynamic relations with that most extraordinary intellectual awakening and scientific, edu­ cational, literary and religious development of his time generally known as the "Scottish Enlightenment. " That movement in thought and culture was indeed in more ways than one a unique phenomenon in the history of western culture, comparable, in its own manner and measure, as we shall attempt to point out later, with such history-making movements or epochs as the Age of Pericles in Greece, the Augustan Age in Rome, the Renaissance movement in Italy and Western Europe generally, the up-surge both in science and in letters in England in the seventeenth century, and the contemporary movement in France associated with the Encyclopedists. This Scottish Enlightenment, often also spoken of as the "Awakening of Scotland," was of course more than a movement merely on the intel­ lectual and cultural level. It had also political bearings and was rather directly conditioned by events and changes in the political arena, begin­ ning with the Union with England in 1707; and even more directly was it accompanied and conditioned by social and economic changes which were in a short span of time to transform the face of this far-northern country almost beyond recognition.

• Nation
• economic theory
• education
• enlightenment
• evaluation
• philosophy
• religion
• service

Policies and ethics