The Enlightenment

The Scottish Enlightenment

In this course, Dr Anna Plassart (Open University) explores the Scottish Enlightenment. In the first module, we think about the Enlightenment as a whole—why it happened when it did, its principle goals and central doctrines—before moving on in the second and third modules to think about the Enlightenment in Scotland in particular. In the fourth and fifth modules, we focus on two of the major figures of Scottish Enlightenment and one of the major works—Adam Smith and ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776) and David Hume and ‘A Treatise of Human Nature’ (1738). A final module provides some conclusions and final thoughts for the course as whole.

The Enlightenment

In this module, we introduce the Enlightenment as a whole – a period of intense intellectual activity in 18th-Century Europe. In particular, we think about why the Enlightenment happened when it did, its principle goals and central doctrines.