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A review by donnaadouglas
The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World by Arthur Herman
3.0
This is a well-written, well-researched study of Scotland's role in shaping modern society. This is an important book that more Scottish people should read (I'd be surprised if the greater percentage of Scots know who people like Adam Smith and David Livingstone are!)
Did this book make me feel proud to be Scottish? Sure it did, but I couldn't help but notice the fact that most of the people whose contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment was detailed in this book were from privileged families. I also felt that Arthur Herman at times couldn't but aside his own, clearly Liberal opinion, and certain signs of bias were evident on various occasions throughout the book.
QUOTATIONS I LIKED:
"Religious belief is a matter of private conscience, and no public authority has the right to interfere in how it is exercised."
"'Can there be a greater disorder in human affairs'...than having human beings jammed together in cities, earning their living by 'the exercise of a sedentary and unmanly trade, to foment the luxury of a few?'"
"The Scottish Enlightenment presented man as the product of history. Our most fundamental character as human beings, they argued, even our moral character is constantly evolving and developing, shaped by a variety of forces over which we as individuals have little or no control. We are ultimately creatures of our environment: that was the great discovery that the 'Scottish school', as it came to be known, brought to the modern world."
"Postmodern morality tells us constantly 'Don't be judgemental' - yet Adam Smith was saying that being judgemental is the essence of what makes us moral beings."
"Better to be a poor man in a rich country than a rich man in a poor one. It was a lesson in comparative advantage that Smith and his generation saw played out in the Scottish Highlands. Later on, the modern West learned it again as it watched floods of Third World emigrants gladly give up their homes in Bangladesh or Guatemala for the most menial jobs they could find in London or New York."
Did this book make me feel proud to be Scottish? Sure it did, but I couldn't help but notice the fact that most of the people whose contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment was detailed in this book were from privileged families. I also felt that Arthur Herman at times couldn't but aside his own, clearly Liberal opinion, and certain signs of bias were evident on various occasions throughout the book.
QUOTATIONS I LIKED:
"Religious belief is a matter of private conscience, and no public authority has the right to interfere in how it is exercised."
"'Can there be a greater disorder in human affairs'...than having human beings jammed together in cities, earning their living by 'the exercise of a sedentary and unmanly trade, to foment the luxury of a few?'"
"The Scottish Enlightenment presented man as the product of history. Our most fundamental character as human beings, they argued, even our moral character is constantly evolving and developing, shaped by a variety of forces over which we as individuals have little or no control. We are ultimately creatures of our environment: that was the great discovery that the 'Scottish school', as it came to be known, brought to the modern world."
"Postmodern morality tells us constantly 'Don't be judgemental' - yet Adam Smith was saying that being judgemental is the essence of what makes us moral beings."
"Better to be a poor man in a rich country than a rich man in a poor one. It was a lesson in comparative advantage that Smith and his generation saw played out in the Scottish Highlands. Later on, the modern West learned it again as it watched floods of Third World emigrants gladly give up their homes in Bangladesh or Guatemala for the most menial jobs they could find in London or New York."