Often described as the father of the Scottish Enlightenment, Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) was born in the north of Ireland to an Ulster-Scottish Presbyterian family. Organised into three 'books' that were divided between two volumes, A System of Moral Philosophy was his most comprehensive work. It synthesised ideas that he had formulated as a minister and as the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow (1729-46). Published posthumously by his son in 1755, prefaced by an account of his life, it is the only treatise by Hutcheson for which a manuscript is known to have survived. Asserting that individual natural rights derive from an innate understanding of moral behaviour, Hutcheson offers a model that mediates between individual interests and communal ideals. Containing the concluding chapters of Book 2 and Book 3, Volume 2 explores the role of familial and political governance in relation to communal happiness.

In light of the fact that Francis Hutcheson was one of the most influential philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment, it is remarkable that there has never been an edition of his correspondence.Hutcheson’s epistolary offerings include letters published in journals in England, Ireland, and the Netherlands. These letters and occasional writings exhibit his polemical skills in controversy, his differences with Presbyterian orthodoxy, his preoccupation with religious and intellectual liberty, and his loyalty and lasting affection for his friends.These incidental writings provide valuable insight into Hutcheson’s more substantial treatises. His private correspondence and such documents as his will and the declaration he made upon becoming a professor at the University of Glasgow give the reader an impression of Hutcheson’s personality and his various life experiences. The volume includes Hutcheson’s letters to the London Journal previewing his first philosophical work, An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, and his philosophical critiques of Thomas Hobbes and Bernard Mandeville.Hutcheson’s private correspondence includes nineteen letters written to the Reverend Thomas Drennan concerning Hutcheson’s frustrations with theological orthodoxy in Glasgow and academia in Scotland, thirteen letters from his cousin William Bruce, the famous letters from David Hume, and the letter that Hutcheson wrote to his father in July 1726 on the subject of church government. Francis Hutcheson was a crucial link between the continental European natural law tradition and the emerging Scottish Enlightenment. Hence, he is a pivotal figure in the Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics series. A contemporary of Lord Kames and George Turnbull, an acquaintance of David Hume, and the teacher of Adam Smith, Hutcheson was arguably the leading figure in making Scotland distinctive within the general European Enlightenment. James Moore is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal. M. A. Stewart is Honorary Research Professor in the History of Philosophy at the Universities of Lancaster and Aberdeen. Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History and Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

Product Description: In this work William Henry Chamberlin offers his perspective as a seasoned journalist on the United States’ involvement in World War II. Written only five years after the unconditional surrenders of Germany and Japan, the book is a window into its time...read more

Product Description: Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue; In Two Treatises: I, Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design, II, Concerning Moral Good and EvilYour Excellency's favourable Reception of them, soon put me out of all Fears about their Success with the wiser and better Part of the World; and since this has given me Assurance to own them, I humbly presume to inscribe them in this second Edition to your Excellency, that I may have at once an Opportunity of expressing the sincerest Gratitude for the Notice you were pleas'd to take of me, and have the Pleasure also of letting the World know, that this small Work has your Excellency's Approbation...read more

Product Description: Francis Hutcheson was the first major philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, and one of the great thinkers in the history of British moral philosophy. He firmly rejected the view, common then as now, that morality is nothing more than the prudent pursuit of self-interest, arguing in favor of a theory of a moral sense...read more

Product Description: Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics

Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics

Product Description: * one of the great philosophical works of the eighteenth century* the rare and valuable first edition, reprinted in its entirety'Of the countless reprints of Scottish Enlightenment works that Thoemmes has given us, none is more welcome than this...read more

Product Description:  Francis Hutcheson’s first book, An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, was published in 1725, when its author was only thirty-one, and went through four editions during his lifetime. This seminal text of the Scottish Enlightenment is now available for the first time in a variorum edition based on the 1726 edition...read more

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

Product Description: Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics

Product Description: On the Nature and Conduct of the Passions is a work dealing with the bases of morality and virtue, both public and private. Hutcheson argues that the natural inclination of the human being is to be virtuous, since the pleasures of being virtuous are the greatest we can experience...read more

Product Description: Hutcheson (1694-1746) introduced the civic humanist tradition into higher education and, in recent years, has been accepted as the founder of modern aesthetics. Among the students he trained in the Whig philosophy of personal liberty and government restraint was Adam Smith; his influence extended over the Enlightenment, and especially David Hume...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Francis Hutcheson was the first major philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, and one of the great thinkers in the history of British moral philosophy. He firmly rejected the view, common then as now, that morality is nothing more than the prudent pursuit of self-interest, arguing in favor of a theory of a moral sense...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: In this work William Henry Chamberlin offers his perspective as a seasoned journalist on the United States’ involvement in World War II. Written only five years after the unconditional surrenders of Germany and Japan, the book is a window into its time...read more