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Edinburgh Studies in Scottish Philosophy

Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment

By Gordon Graham

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£95.00

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About this book

Highlights the continued flourishing of Scottish philosophy after the Scottish Enlightenment by exploring the work of underappreciated figures and themes
  • Engages with philosophical issues including the science of human nature, realism versus idealism, the relation of metaphysics and psychology, the impact of evolutionary biology on religious thinking, and the recurrent debate between theism and agnosticism
  • Draws attention to an important set of typically overlooked Scottish philosophers working after the golden age of Hume, Smith and Reid
  • Integrates cultural history and philosophical inquiry

Beginning with Sir William Hamilton’s revitalisation of philosophy in Scotland in the 1830s, Gordon Graham takes up the theme of George Davie’s The Democratic Intellect and explores a century of debates surrounding the identity and continuity of the Scottish philosophical tradition.

Gordon Graham identifies a host of once-prominent but now neglected thinkers – such as Alexander Bain, J. F. Ferrier, Thomas Carlyle, Alexander Campbell Fraser, John Tulloch, Henry Jones, Henry Calderwood, David Ritchie and Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison – whose reactions to Hume and Reid stimulated new currents of ideas.

Graham concludes by considering the relation between the Scottish philosophical tradition and the 20th-century philosopher John Macmurray.

Reviews

In every respect this book is a far more careful consideration of Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment than its forerunners. James McCosh, Henry Laurie, and George Davie all sketched versions of the history of this period, but none of them really focussed on the ideas in as clear-eyed a fashion as Gordon Graham.

Gordon Graham has played a significant role in the promotion and development of the history of Scottish Philosophy. Therefore, a collection of his essays on 19th Century Scottish Philosophy that demonstrates the complexity and interest of this period is very welcome.

Gordon Graham has played a significant role in the promotion and development of the history of Scottish Philosophy. Therefore, a collection of his essays on 19th Century Scottish Philosophy that demonstrates the complexity and interest of this period is very welcome.

Graham has given us an important book,written in a clear and accessible style, vigorous in its analysis, and convincing in its interpretations. The breadth of coverage is impressive, and while Graham’s approach is one of text-based analysis, he provides attention to the larger cultural and religious context.

Graham has given us an important book, written in a clear and accessible style, vigorous in its analysis, and convincing in its interpretations. The breadth of coverage is impressive, and while Graham’s approach is one of text-based analysis, he provides attention to the larger cultural and religious context.
Table of contents

A Note on Women in Scottish Philosophy: Mrs OliphantChronology of Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment

  1. An Autobiographical Prologue
  2. Sir William Hamilton and the Revitalisation of Scottish Philosophy
  3. James Frederick Ferrier and the Course of Scottish Philosophy
  4. Psychology and Moral Philosophy: Alexander Bain
  5. Thomas Carlyle and the Philosophy of Rhetoric
  6. Hegelianism and its Critics
  7. Scottish Philosophy’s Progress
  8. Religion, Evolution and Scottish Philosophy
  9. The Gifford Lectures and the Re-affirmation of Theism: Alexander Campbell Fraser
  10. The Culmination of Scottish Philosophy: A S Pringle-Pattison
  11. John Macmurray and the Self as Agent

BibliographyIndex

About the author

Gordon Graham

Gordon Graham is Director of the Edinburgh Sacred Arts Festival. He previously taught philosophy at the University of St Andrews, University of Aberdeen, and Princeton Theological Seminary. The author of twenty books on a wide range of subjects in aesthetics, politics and moral philosophy, he has also published extensively on the Scottish philosophical tradition. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and winner of an Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society Lifetime Achievement Award, he was founding editor of the Journal of Scottish Philosophy and general editor of the Oxford History of Scottish Philosophy. His books include Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment (Edinburgh University Press, 2022).

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