Religion in the Scottish Enlightenment

Religion in the Scottish Enlightenment

A common perception of the Enlightenment holds that it played a key intellectual role in initiating a decline in religious belief and adherence across Europe, and Hume’s Dialogues concerning Natural Religion are widely regarded as a seminal text in this connection. Yet Hume was in a minority. Many of the leaders of the Scottish Enlightenment were Christian ministers, and their explorations in philosophy and the ‘science of human nature’ were intended to advance ‘true religion’, a concept that Hume himself employs.

The purpose of this conference is to explore historically and critically the relation between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ in the Scottish Enlightenment, both in general and in relation to the writings of major figures of the period – Hume, Reid, Smith, Ferguson, Kames and Campbell, for example. Its further aim is to relate these issues to contemporary explorations in the philosophical psychology of religion.

Paper proposals are invited. Abstracts of not more than 500 words and should be sent to CSSP by 1st November 2013. Decisions will be advised by 1st December 2013.