Scottish Enlightenment - Economics and Sociology

Economics and Sociology

Adam Smith developed and published The Wealth of Nations, the starting point of modern economics. This famous study, which had an immediate impact on British economic policy, still frames 21st century discussions on globalisation and tariffs.

Scottish Enlightenment thinkers developed what Hume called a 'science of man' which was expressed historically in works by such as James Burnett, Adam Ferguson, John Millar and William Robertson, all of whom merged a scientific study of how humans behave in ancient and primitive cultures with a strong awareness of the determining forces of modernity. Alan Swingewood argued that modern sociology largely originated from this movement.

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