Idea of Commercial Society in the Scottish Enlightenment

Chris Berry is Professor Emeritus of Political Theory at the University of Glasgow, which he joined from 1970, from the LSE where he completed his doctorate. He is best known for his work on the Scottish Enlightenment and on the ‘Idea of Luxury’ and he has given invited keynote lectures on these themes in China, Japan, Chile, the US and in Europe. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

• Preface; Abbreviations; 1. Scotland, Improvement and Enlightenment; 2. Commerce, Stages and the Natural History of Society; 3. Prosperity and Poverty; 4. Markets, Law and Politics; 5. Liberty and the Virtues of Commerce; 6. The Dangers of Commerce; 7. The Idea of a Commercial Society; References; Index.

Berry’s Scottish Enlightenment is an integrated affair, and his writing about it mirrors that theme, masterly overlapping interpretations of primary sources with meaningful discussions of much of the most important historiography. [...] The resulting synthesis is both an original and expert contribution to Scottish Enlightenment studies and an accessible introduction to the field that might be read by students at many levels.