Editing Scottish Enlightenment (section)

===Empiricism and inductive reasoning===
{{Cleanup section|reason=Despite the heading, this section lacks content on inductive reasoning.|date=September 2018}}
The first major philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment was [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] (1694–1746), who was professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow from 1729 to 1746. He was an important link between the ideas of [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury|Shaftesbury]] and the later school of [[Scottish Common Sense Realism]], developing [[Utilitarianism]] and [[Consequentialist]] thinking.<ref name="Mitchison1983p.150"/> Also influenced by Shaftesbury was [[George Turnbull (theologian)|George Turnbull]] (1698–1748), who was regent at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and who published pioneering work in the fields of Christian ethics, art and education.<ref>A. Broadie, ''A History of Scottish Philosophy'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0748616276}}, p. 120.</ref>

[[David Hume]] (1711–76) whose ''[[Treatise on Human Nature]]'' (1738) and ''[[Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary|Essays, Moral and Political]]'' (1741) helped outline the parameters of philosophical [[Empiricism]] and [[Scepticism]].<ref name=Mitchison1983p.150>R. Mitchison, ''Lordship to Patronage, Scotland 1603–1745'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983), {{ISBN|074860233X}}, p. 150.</ref> He would be a major influence on later Enlightenment figures including [[Adam Smith]], [[Immanuel Kant]] and [[Jeremy Bentham]].<ref>B. Freydberg, ''David Hume: Platonic Philosopher, Continental Ancestor'' (Suny Press, 2012), {{ISBN|1438442157}}, p. 105.</ref> Hume's argument that there were no efficient causes hidden in nature was supported and developed by [[Thomas Brown (philosopher)|Thomas Brown]] (1778–1820), who was [[Dugald Stewart]]'s (1753–1828) successor at Edinburgh and who would be a major influence on later philosophers including [[John Stuart Mill]].<ref>G. Graham, ''Scottish Philosophy: Selected Readings 1690–1960'' (Imprint Academic, 2004), {{ISBN|0907845746}}, p. 165.</ref>

In contrast to Hume, [[Thomas Reid]] (1710–96), a student of Turnbull's, along with minister [[George Campbell (minister)|George Campbell]] (1719–96) and writer and moralist [[James Beattie (writer)|James Beattie]] (1735–1803), formulated [[Common Sense Realism]].<ref>R. Emerson, "The contexts of the Scottish Enlightenment" in A. Broadie, ed., ''The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|978-0-521-00323-0}}, p. 21.</ref> Reid set out his theories in ''An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense'' (1764).<ref>E. J. Wilson, P. H. Reill, ''Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment'' (Infobase Publishing, 2nd ed., 2004), {{ISBN|0816053359}}, pp. 499–501.</ref> This approach argued that there are certain concepts, such as human existence, the existence of solid objects and some basic moral "first principles", that are intrinsic to the make up of man and from which all subsequent arguments and systems of morality must be derived. It can be seen as an attempt to reconcile the new scientific developments of the Enlightenment with religious belief.<ref name=Gutjhar2011p39>Paul C. Gutjahr, ''Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), {{ISBN|0199740429}}), p. 39.</ref>