In 1762 Voltaire in 1762 wrote that “today it is from Scotland that we get rules of taste in all the arts, from epic poetry to gardening.” The list of bright minds from this small land is long: The Adams brothers in architecture, Hugh Blair in rhetoric, the poets James Thomson, Allan Ramsay, and Robert Burns, the playwright John Home--and this does not include the men of the sciences.
This is from Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith is not a capitalist apologist but a true philosopher, an integral part of the Scottish Enlightenment that included Frances Hutcheson, David Hume, and Thomas Reid. His Moral Sentiments was viewed at the time as being more important than his economic writings.
"The violence and injustice of great conquerors are often regarded with foolish wonder and admiration; those of petty thieves, robbers, and murderers, with contempt, hatred, and even horror upon all occasions. The former, though they are a hundred times more mischievous and destructive, yet when successful, they often pass for deeds of the most heroic magnanimity. The latter are always viewed with hatred and aversion, as the follies, as well as the crimes, of the lowest and most worthless of mankind. The injustice of the former is certainly, at least, as great as that of the latter; but the folly and imprudence are not near so great. A wicked and worthless man of parts often goes through the world with much more credit than he deserves."
"A wicked and worthless man of parts often goes through the world with much more credit than he deserves." So we learn in school of warriors, warlords, followers of homicidal philosophies--the vicious and heartless man of parts and influence--and not the thoughtful, learned man of good will striving for a noble life. And, in any culture, what good can come of that?
This is from Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith is not a capitalist apologist but a true philosopher, an integral part of the Scottish Enlightenment that included Frances Hutcheson, David Hume, and Thomas Reid. His Moral Sentiments was viewed at the time as being more important than his economic writings.
"The violence and injustice of great conquerors are often regarded with foolish wonder and admiration; those of petty thieves, robbers, and murderers, with contempt, hatred, and even horror upon all occasions. The former, though they are a hundred times more mischievous and destructive, yet when successful, they often pass for deeds of the most heroic magnanimity. The latter are always viewed with hatred and aversion, as the follies, as well as the crimes, of the lowest and most worthless of mankind. The injustice of the former is certainly, at least, as great as that of the latter; but the folly and imprudence are not near so great. A wicked and worthless man of parts often goes through the world with much more credit than he deserves."
"A wicked and worthless man of parts often goes through the world with much more credit than he deserves." So we learn in school of warriors, warlords, followers of homicidal philosophies--the vicious and heartless man of parts and influence--and not the thoughtful, learned man of good will striving for a noble life. And, in any culture, what good can come of that?
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