Scottish philosophy is a philosophical tradition created by philosophers belonging to Scottish universities. Although many philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Thomas Reid, and Adam Smith are familiar to almost all philosophers it was not until the 19th century that the notion of 'Scottish philosophy' became recognized and highly regarded internationally. In the 20th century, however, this tradition declined as Scottish-educated philosophers left for England.
Medieval Scotland Early Scottish philosophy served Christian theology, so the main topics of medieval philosophy concern the philosophy of religion. This emphasized problems such as the origins of sin and the corruption of human nature, the problem of evil, and divine foreknowledge.
In the High Middle Ages, Adam of Dryburgh (c. 1140–c. 1212) was a follower of Augustine who believed in free will, but that sin made us require divine grace.Damian-Grint, Peter, 'Adam of Dryburgh', in David Fergusson, and Mark W. Elliott (eds), The History of Scottish Theology, Volume I: Celtic Origins to Reformed Orthodoxy, History of Scottish Theology (Oxford, 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Oct. 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198759331.003.0004, accessed 3 Aug. 2026. Michael Scot Michael Scot (1175–c. 1232) traveled to Toledo, known for its school of translators of Greek and Arabic sources. Michael Scot translated Aristotle, Avicenna, and Averroes, and was the greatest public intellectual of his day.
John Duns Scotus
Nicknamed Doctor Subtilis (the subtle doctor), John Duns Scotus (1265-1308) was a Franciscan friar who made significant contributions to the areas of natural theology, metaphysics, the theory of knowledge, ethics and moral philosophy. Scotus was born at Duns in Berwickshire. In 1291, he was ordained as a priest in Northampton, England. A note in Codex 66 of Merton College, Oxford, records that Scotus "flourished at Cambridge, Oxford and Paris". He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.
Scotism was the main alternative to the philosophy of Thomism. Scotism believes in the univocity of being rather than the equivocity of being. Scotism also believed in haecceity or "thisness".Kennard, M. J. (2022). John Duns Scotus on Grace and the Trinitarian Missions. Netherlands: Brill. Scotus’s stance on natural theology is that human beings can come to know God in ways apart from revelation. Scotus believes that all our knowledge is derived from our experience of sensible things and from this beginning, we can come to grasp God.
Renaissance Scotland
During the 15th century, Scotland established three universities that were to become the foundation of the Scottish philosophical tradition, these were University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow and the University of Aberdeen. Philosophy was compulsory for all university students. While this pre-enlightenment period was primarily focused on philosophers who merely rehabilitated their predecessors – the writings of Plato and Aristotle – this period was not without its accomplishments.
John Major (1467–1550) was a nominalist influenced by French philosopher Jean Buridan. His pupil was George Lokert (c. 1485–1547). Major also influenced Hector Boece (1465–1536). Boece was the first principal of King's College, Aberdeen. Reformation Following the Reformation, King's College was purged of its Roman Catholic staff but remained largely resistant to change in its methods. George Keith (c. 1553–1623), the fifth Earl Marischal, however was a moderniser within the college and supportive of the reforming ideas of Peter Ramus. In April 1593 Keith founded a second university in the city, Marischal College. Andrew Melville (1545–1622) had introduced Ramus into Scotland.Masson, D. (1875). The Life of John Milton: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time. United Kingdom: Macmillan and Company. p. 197
Natural philosophy
The invention of the logarithmic tables by Protestant John Napier (1550-1617) allowed the development of the sciences, or natural philosophy, while significant contributions to science were made by other Scots such as James Gregory (1638-1675), Robert Sibbald (1641-1722) and Archibald Pitcairne (1652-1713). Scottish soldier Robert Moray (1609-1673) was a member of the Royal Society and a FreemasonRobertson, A. (1922). The Life of Sir Robert Moray: Soldier, Statesman and Man of Science (1608-1673). United Kingdom: Longmans, Green and Company. p. 204 Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine (1629–1681) was also a member of the Royal Society and a Freemason. Gregory made a telescope. Bruce collaborated with Dutch natural philosopher Christiaan Huygens in developing a marine pendulum clock.
Cartesianism In the second half of the 17th century, Scottish universities developed their own form of Cartesianism, influenced in large part by Reformed Scholasticism of the first half of the 17th century. Mention of Descartes first appeared in the graduation theses by regent Andrew Cant (c.1626–1685) for Marischal College, the University of Aberdeen in 1654. Cartesianism was very successful in Scottish universities. Until the end of the 1660s, the universities gradually incorporated occasional Cartesianism themes into the scholastic structure of the curriculum. Later, in the 1670s the curriculum was consolidated and structured according to the order of exposition of the new philosophy.
18th century Scottish philosophy of this time overlaps with the period of Scottish Enlightenment. Scottish philosophers of this time were extensively studied. The prominent ideas of this century include natural law, moral philosophy, aesthetics, and common sense philosophy.
The three 'classic' British empiricists in the early modern era were English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685–1753), and the Scottish David Hume (1711–1776).Morris, C. R. (1931). Locke, Berkeley, Hume. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.Locke, J., Berkeley, G., Hume, D. (2013). The Empiricists: Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural Religion. United Kingdom: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. The term "British empiricism" refers to the philosophical tradition in Britain that was epitomised by these thinkers.
A heavy influence on British empiricism and the Enlightenment was the work of natural philosopher Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) and his philosophy of Newtonianism. Newton published his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1686, which included his laws of motion, introducing classical mechanics in physics.Janiak, Andrew, "Newton’s Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2021/entries/newton-philosophy/>. Child prodigy Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746) helped to popularize Newton in Scotland.An account of sir Isaac Newton's philosophical Discoveries : in four books, by Colin McLaurin. (London : printed for A. Millar at Buchanan's Head over against Catharine-street in the Strand(IS), London : Millar. 1750 George Turnbull (1698–1748) believed Newtonianism should influence moral philosophy.The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 4, Eighteenth-Century Science. (2003). Kiribati: Cambridge University Press. p. 810
After Berkeley, who was a subjective idealist, metaphysics was temporarily abandoned in all of Britain, with the exception of James Burnett (1714–1799).
David Hume
David Hume was a philosopher, economist, and historian, and the founder of Humeanism. His major works, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–1740), the An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748), An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) remain widely influential."David Hume" at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved May 15, 2010
Hume described the problem of induction. He argues that inductive reasoning cannot be rationally employed, since, in order to justify induction, one would either have to provide a sound deductive argument or an inductively strong argument. But there is no sound deductive argument for induction, and to ask for an inductive argument to justify induction would be to beg the question.Western Philosophy: An Anthology. (2021). United Kingdom: Wiley. p. 456
Hume's problem of causation is related to his problem of induction. He held that there is no empirical access to the supposed necessary connection between cause and effect. In seeking to justify the belief that A causes B, one would point out that, in the past, B has always closely followed A in both space and time. But the special necessary connection that is supposed to be causation is never given in experience. Only a constant conjunction of events can be observed, with no necessity whatsoever. Hume's attack on causality was credited with waking German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) from his "dogmatic slumber."Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment. (2017). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.De Pierris, Graciela and Michael Friedman, "Kant and Hume on Causality", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2024 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/kant-hume-causality/>.
In personal identity, Hume was a bundle theorist. He said that there is no robust self to which properties adhere. Experience shows that there is only a bundle of perceptions.Thiel, Udo, 'Hume and the bundle view of the self', The Early Modern Subject: Self-Consciousness and Personal Identity from Descartes to Hume (Oxford, 2011; online edn, Oxford Academic, 19 Jan. 2012), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542499.003.0014, accessed 31 July 2026. Hume also pointed out how one cannot deduce an 'ought' from an 'is'.
Adam Smith
Adam Smith (1723–1790) was a moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economics. Smith wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered Smith's magnum opus.Heilbroner, R. L. (2011). The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers. United States: Touchstone. It is notable for its description of the invisible hand and is the first modern work of economics.Liu, G. M. (2022). Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism. United States: Princeton University Press.
Smith studied moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow and the University of Oxford. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments.Fleischacker, Samuel, "Adam Smith’s Moral and Political Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2025/entries/smith-moral-political/>.
Francis Hutcheson