2015/09/01 by Giovanni Gellera · 13 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Cartesianism #Classical Philosophy and Thought #Classics #Enlightenment #Epistemology #Faith #Historical Philosophy and Science #History #Metaphysics #Natural (archaeology) #Natural philosophy #Philosophy #Scholasticism #Scottish Enlightenment #Scottish History and National Identity
paper · doi:10.3366/jsp.2015.0103
published in Journal of Scottish Philosophy 13(3), 179-201 (Edinburgh University Press)
openalex publication_date 2015/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
In 1685, during the heyday of Scottish Cartesianism (1670–90), regent Robert Lidderdale from Edinburgh University declared Cartesianism the best philosophy in support of the Reformed faith. It is commonplace that Descartes was ostracised by the Reformed, and his role in pre-Enlightenment Scottish philosophy is not yet fully acknowledged. This paper offers an introduction to Scottish Cartesianism, and argues that the philosophers of the Scottish universities warmed up to Cartesianism because they saw it as a newer, better version of their own traditional Reformed scholasticism, chiefly in metaphysics and natural philosophy.