An 18th Century revolution of thought

Presented in partnership with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Nature and the Wellcome Trust

There were two great visions of the 18th century Enlightenment: the intellectual virtue of thinking for oneself rather than simply accepting the authority of others, and the moral virtue of tolerance as demonstrated in the willingness of those in power to permit people to express their ideas without fear of repression. Such freedom led to an extraordinary burst of creativity across the whole gamut of the arts, humanities and sciences.

Nowhere was the Enlightenment more spectacular than in Scotland with figures such as David Hume, Adam Smith, Joseph Black, James Hutton, Henry Raeburn and Robert Burns working in Edinburgh. Learned Academies became popular ways to encourage Enlightenment principles and practices, and Scotland's first National Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh founded in 1783, continues to maintain the spirit and the values of the Scottish Enlightenment today.