ENLIGHTENED EDINBURGH

Enlightenment in the 21st Century

The first enlightenment identified the link between ‘history’ and ‘human nature’. Its writers boldly asserted that we are perpetually adapting, even in terms of our moral character, influenced by factors beyond our individual control. And that crucially, these factors follow potentially discernable principles and patterns.

Enlightenment Then...

In the 18th Century (roughly from 1740 - 1790), the Enlightenment sought to generate a stable cultural framework for a world transforming under the pressures of war, commerce and the rise of Europe’s overseas empires. Its artists, philosophers, politicians and scientists redirected Europe. They saw mutual toleration as the basis of a lasting security from which fanaticism in religion and politics were banished.

Nowhere were enlightened ideals more vigorously pursued than in Scotland, a country coming to terms with new thinking as well as a changing national identity and global role. Thus the Scots were careful in their thinking about enlightenment, more interested in improvement than revolution.

Scotland’s emphasis on educational and intellectual achievement was the product of the need to adapt to changing circumstances. It was their pragmatism that allowed the Scots to pursue opportunities for advancement in the cause of commerce and empire. Theirs was a practical enlightenment rooted in a vivid perception of human beings as adaptable, sociable agents with the instinct to improve their condition at home and abroad.

Enlightenment Now...

What is it to be Enlightened? Are we living in an Enlightened Age?  Not since the days of Robertson, Hume and Smith have these questions been brought so sharply into focus.

Their spirit of radical enquiry can still be seen in the University in the many areas in which progress is made by transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries, most notably, in emerging domains such as nanotechnology and stem-cell research. The multidisciplinary approach also exemplifies the spirit of the Enlightenment with specialists from different subject areas working together to make advances in knowledge. The lecture series will run throughout 2006 and 2007.