Thomas Reid on Society and Politics

This book reveals this Enlightenment philosopher’s acute comments on the Scottish political, social and economic scene. Thomas Reid might not have published much on politics, but his manuscripts reveal that he was deeply concerned with social, political and economic issues throughout his career. Published here for the first time, Reid’s Glasgow lecture notes and his papers to learned societies in Aberdeen and Glasgow show that he was an acute commentator on contemporary politics and that his theoretical ideas framed solutions to some of the practical political and economic problems of his day. It explores Reid’s eclectic system of political economy, which had considerable affinities with the work of Sir James Steuart. It provides an important contemporary template for comparison with Adam Smith, Reid’s predecessor in the Glasgow chair of moral philosophy. It shows the continuing influence and transformation of long-standing paradigms within Anglo-Scottish thought. It includes a contextualising and critical introduction. All of the manuscripts are fully annotated with explanatory and textual notes.