The Scottish Enlightenment and the Militia Issue

by John Robertson

ISBN: 9781906566128
Imprint: John Donald
Publication Date: Jul 2010
Format: Paperback
Price: £20.00
Stock Status: not yet published

The question of military organisation was a major interest of the leading thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including David Hume, Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith, and they were implicitly critical of common assumptions about the value of Scotland’s martial heritage and the character of post-Union Scottish politics.

This study pursues the story of the militia issue and its intellectual significance from its introduction into political debate before the Union by Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun. Focussing in turn on the challenge of Andrew Fletcher and the response he provoked, on the renewed intellectual consideration of the issue in mid-century by David Hume, on the Moderate group of literati and the successive agitations for a Scottish militia which they inspired, and finally on the place of the militia in the social philosophies of Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith, the book demonstrates the extent to which the themes of Scottish political debate were absorbed and generalised in the thought of the Enlightenment. It also argues that the philosophy of the Enlightenment not only was a reflection of Scottish social experience but also yielded critical and enduring lessons for Scottish political life.

John Robertson is a Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

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