The Scottish Enlightenment: How Ideas Conquered Britain

The Story of Scotland: Clans, Crowns, and the Fight for Identity — Fexingo History · Oct 22, 2026 · 9m · transcript

While we have covered the political fractures and military defeats that shaped Scotland, this episode turns to the intellectual explosion of the eighteenth century. We explore how Edinburgh became the Athens of the North through the work of figures like David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid. You will hear about the Select Society and the Poker Club, where radical thinkers debated common sense philosophy and moral sentiments away from university constraints. We examine the tension between the Moderate Party in the universities and the more aggressive radical network led by Francis Hutcheson…