The Scottish Enlightenment and the militia issue
Robertson, John, 1951-1985
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Discussion of the militia in 18th-century Scotland was affected both by the martial character of Scotland's past and by the Scottish Enlightenment's interest in ``the progress of society.'' The debate began at the end of the 17th century when Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, following arguments of Italian civic humanists, claimed that a militia produced virtuous citizens while a standing army enslaved a nation. For the next half century the question of a Scottish militia lay dormant. But David Hume placed the militia question within the principal intellectual project of the Scottish Enlightenment-``the investigation of the conditions of the progress of society.'' Believing that economic development produced a stable society and civilized virtues, Hume deplored the waste of resources associated with a standing army. To the moderate literati, however, a militia officered by gentry would restore the social harmony and martial cohesion being undermined by growing wealth in Scotland
Main title:
The Scottish Enlightenment and the militia issue / John Robertson.
Author:
Robertson, John, 1951-, author
Imprint:
Edinburgh : Donald, c1985.
Collation:
viii, 272 pages ; 25 cm.
Notes:
Bibliography, pages 245-260. - Includes index.
ISBN:
08597610969780859761093
Dewey class:
355.3709411941.07
LC class:
UA664
Local class:
941.07941.107AE10
Language:
English
Subject:
Index terms:
ScotlandProposed militiaAttitudes of intellectuals1697-1783
BRN:
324579
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Total copies: 1