The Enlightenment

Adam Smith was one of the leading Scottish thinkers of the Enlightenment, a period when scholars across Britain rethought long-held views on politics, science and society. He is remembered above all for shaping ideas about economics, and his arguments about markets and trade are still discussed by economists today. His reputation rests on how thoroughly he examined the way wealth is produced and exchanged, work that later writers built directly on.

David Hume worked in the same intellectual circle and became known for his ideas about human nature, exploring how people reason, feel and form beliefs. Philosophers continue to draw on his arguments when they study how the mind works and what can genuinely be known. Together, Smith and Hume show how a small group of Scottish writers changed thinking well beyond Scotland's borders.