Adam Smith During the Scottish Enlightenment Research Paper

Adam Smith During the Scottish Enlightenment - Research Paper Example On graduating, he successfully delivered a number of public lectures at Edinburgh. Those lectures led him eventually to cooperation with David Hume during the period of Scottish Enlightenment. Sharing both rationalist and humanist outlook of the European Enlightenment of the same epoch, the key thinkers and doers of Scottish Enlightenment maintained the fundamental importance of the reason combined with a rejection of all the authorities that cannot be vindicated by reason. They clang to an optimistic belief in the ability of a man to make changes for the better in both nature and social life, being guided solely by the reason. It was this very feature that added the Scottish Enlightenment the peculiar flavor that has distinguished it from its counterpart from over the Continent. Furthermore, Scottish Enlightenment was characterized by an extremely thorough empiricism and practically where the main virtues were held to be a practical benefit, improvement, and virtue itself of both societies a whole and an individual. By the middle of the 18th century, Scots had become hardly the most literate nation of Europe. Its level of literacy was estimated as high as 75%. Yet it was not many of them who were making Enlightenment. The whole culture of that time Scotland was oriented to books so spirited discussions were held at such places of intellectual gatherings as The Select Society and The Poker Club. Those places, in fact, were crucibles from which lots of ideas distinguishing Scottish Enlightenment developed. When teaching moral philosophy at Glasgow Smith received a chair, and during within this period of time, he published his work The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Later he received a tutoring position allowing him to travel over Europe where he used to meet other prominent intellectuals of the Enlightenment epoch.