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The wise club origins of common sense in the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, 1758-1773 Charles Bradford Bow

Cambridge eBooks: Frontlist 2026 Available online

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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Bow, Charles Bradford, author.
Series:
Cambridge elements. Elements in eighteenth-century connections
Cambridge elements. Elements in eighteenth-century connections 2632-5578
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Philosophical Society of Aberdeen.
Intellectual life.
Scotland.
Genre:
History
Physical Description:
1 online resource
Place of Publication:
Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2026
Summary:
"The Wise Club reconstructs the collaborative intellectual culture in which the Scottish philosophy of common sense first emerged in the Aberdeen Philosophical Society between 1758 and 1773. Rather than attributing this school of thought toa single founder, the study traces how David Skene, John Gregory, Thomas Reid, George Campbell, Alexander Gerard, and James Beattie developed distinct yet compatible inquiries across different branches of knowledge through a disciplined culture of inquiry. Their collective commitment to an inductive investigation of the original faculties of the human mind extended common sense beyond epistemology to natural history, medicine, rhetoric, aesthetics, moral philosophy, and imaginative literature. Drawing on unpublished discourses, abstracted discussions, lecture notes, and correspondence, this Element situates the Wise Club in a formative context that produced canonical works of the Scottish Enlightenment and reinterprets common sense philosophy as a characteristic method of inquiry rather than a unified doctrinal system"-- Provided by publisher
Contents:
Skene’s superstructure
Gregory’s instinct
Reid’s perception
Campbell’s eloquence
Gerard’s genius
Beattie’s truth
Disbanding the Wise Club
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references
Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed August 18, 2026)
Other Format:
Print version Bow, Charles Bradford Wise club
ISBN:
9781009734646
1009734644
OCLC:
1602952117
Access Restriction:
Restricted for use by site license

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