Past Projects

IASH has supported interdisciplinary projects including the Sawyer Seminar, Scotland’s Transatlantic Relations (STAR), and the David Hume Tercentenary in 2011.

‘Embodied Values: Bringing the Senses back to the Environment’, a John E. Sawyer Seminar, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation .

Through a series of workshops this project addressed in turn the senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell from various disciplinary perspectives to deliver humanities perspectives on environmental models of the senses and what constitutes the haptic. The Sawyer Seminar concluded with an international conference in December 2011: Sensory Worlds: Environment, Value and the Multi-Sensory.

Each of the six workshops included a public lecture, as well as a day-long seminar with invited participants and an experiential session. The speakers in the public lectures were:

Professor Paul Carter, Deakin University, Australia: An Auditorium for Echoes: inventing sound places and the ethics of recollection (Hearing/Sound)
David Rothenberg, New Jersey Institute of Technology, gave an evening concert in which he played jazz saxophone alongside digitally modified bird and whale sounds (bird sound was slowed down and whale song speeded up).
Rothenberg worked closely with deep ecology originator and supporter, Arne Naess. (Hearing/Sound)
Professor David Howes, Concordia University, Montreal: Smellscapes: The Role of Odour in the Constitution of Selves and Environments (Scenting/Smell)
Professor Kate Soper, London Metropolitan University: Seeing is Caring? Aesthetic Perception, Environmental Concern and Cultural Renewal (Seeing/Sight)
Professor Steven Connor writer, critic and broadcaster; Academic Director of the London Consortium: Intact (Touching/Touch)
Professor Olga Taxidou, University of Edinburgh: Theatricality, Violence and Affect: The Case of the Bacchae (Senses in Motion)

Further details can be found on the Sawyer Seminar project website

Seminars

2000

Saturday 29th April 2000

Dr Eugene Heath, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York, New Paltz
The Eighteenth-century Scots on the Unintended Emergence of Customs and Morals

Dr Ferenc Hörcher, Department of Aesthetics, Pázmany Péter Catholic University, Piliscaba
Was Hume a Conservative?

Dr Tomas Hlobil, Department of Aesthetics, Charles University
Palacky’s “History of Aesthetics”

Professor Emory L. Kemp, Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology, West Virginia University
Links in a Chain: The Early Modern Suspension Bridge

Saturday 5th February 2000

Dr Udo Thiel, Department of Philosophy, Australian National University
Hume and the Eighteenth Century Debate about Personal Identity

Dr Andreea Deciu, Department of Literary Theory, University of Bucharest
Rites of Passage: Personal Identity and Travelling in the Enlightenment

Professor Andrew Skinner, Department of Political Economy, University of Glasgow
Adam Smith and the American Colonies

1999

Saturday 20th November 1999

Dr Adam Chmielewski, Institute of Philosophy, University of Wroclaw
The Enlightenment’s Concept of the Individual and its Criticism

Dr Josef Moural, Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Charles University, Prague
Metaphilosophy in Hume’s first Enquiry

Dr Pepka Boyadjieva, Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Rethinking the Social Role of the University of Edinburgh for Scottish Englightenment

Dr Paul Shore, Educational Studies, St Louis University
Cluj: A Jesuit oupost in Habsburg Transylvania, 1700-1773

Saturday 4th September 1999

Dr Stipe Kutleša, Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb
Boscovich in his Time and Today

Dr Catalin Avramescu, Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki
The Theory of Social Contract and the Idea of Political Science in the Eighteenth Century

Dr John Sutton, Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney
“Carelessness and In-Attention”: Chance and the Physiology of Habit from Locke to Hume

Tuesday 3rd August 1999

Dr Ock-Kyoung Kim, Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven
The Concept of Individuality in Hegel and Adam Smith

Professor Giancarlo Carabelli, Insitute of Philosophy, University of Ferrara
Enlightenment and Anthropology: William Hamilton in Naples and Italian folk religion

Dr Andrés Lema-Hincapié, School of Philosophy, Universidad del Valle, Colombia
Kant and the Holy Scriptures

Tuesday 4th May 1999

Dr Ferenc Hörcher, Pázmány Péter Catholic University
Art as Virtue: A Humean and Neothomistic Theme

Saturday 24th April 1999

Dr Timothy Engström, Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology
Philosophy and Genre: Forming the Enlightened Community

Dr László Kontler, Department of History, Central European University, Budapest
The Wild and the Civilised: German Readings of William Robertson’s Views on European and
Non-European Civilisations

Dr Susanne Kord, Department of German, Georgetown University
Conceptualizing Kunst: Peasant Poets, Women Writers and Bourgeois Art in Eighteenth-Century
Germany and Britain

Wednesday 10th February 1999

Dr Jan Rupp, School for Social Science, University of Amsterdam
Dutch Anatomy Teaching in the 18th Century

Prof Dr Tatiana Artemieva, Institute of Human Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg
Philosophy of History in 18th Century Russia

1998

Saturday 31st October 1998

Professor Paul Wood, University of Victoria, British Columbia
Mind and Method: Mapping the Enlightenment “Science of Man”

Professor Thomas Olshewsky, University of Kentucky
Which Skepticism, Whose Morality?

Dr Karen O’Brien, University of Wales, Cardiff
The Imperial Newton: Poetry and the British Empire in the 18th Century

Dr Glynis Ridley, University of Huddersfield
What “Special Relationship”? British Nationhood and American Nationalism, 1762-1783

Professor Kenneth Johnston, Indiana University
From Hidden Wordsworth to Hidden Republicans

Saturday 7th February 1998

M. Jean-Pierre Gross – Brussels
From Necker to Robespierre: Liberal Egalitarians and the Market Economy

Professor John Renwick – University of Edinburgh
Enlightened…and then Disabused: “Philosophes” into Counter-Revolutionaries

Dr Glynis Ridley – University of Huddersfield
Cicero as victim of the Terror: the use and abuse of classical rhetoric in Revolutionary France

Professor David Kimbell, University of Edinburgh
Was Beethoven enlightened?: reflections on three Beethoven symphonies

Saturday 24th January 1998

Professor Ann Thomson – University of Caen
Eighteenth Century Materialism: Problems and Perspectives

Dr Graeme Garrard – University of Wales, Cardiff
The Counter-Enlightenment of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Professor Stephen Brown – Champlain College, Trent University
Ah kent his faether: William Smellie and Getting Ahead in Enlightenment Edinburgh

Professor Marian Hobson – Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
Why did Hegel like Diderot’s “Neveu de Rameau”

1997

Saturday 22nd February 1997

Professor Peter Jones – Director, IASH
Hume and Friends on Architecture, Taste and the Design Argument

Professor Marian Hobson – Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
Diderot and Implicit Knowledge: Analogy and Architecture

Dr Marian Kempny – Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
The Scottish Enlightenment and the Rise of Anthropological Theory of Culture

Professor John Renwick – Department of French, The University of Edinburgh
Voltaire and the Morangies case (1772-1773) or The Theory of Probability as applied to evidence

1996

Saturday 19th October 1996

Dr Alistair Mason – University of Leeds
The Sentimental Beauties of Blair

Professor Dr Horst Dreitzel – Bielefeld University
A Strange Marriage: Pufendorf’s Natural Jurisprudence and Protestant Moral Philosophy in the Early Enlightenment (Barbeyrac, Burlamaqui, Carmichael)

Professor M.A. Stewart – Lancaster University
The Eighteenth Century Curriculum

Dr Udo Thiel – Australian National University
Identity through Change. Materialism and Personal Identity in Eighteenth Century Philosophy

Dr Geoffrey Sweet – Anglia Polytechnic University
Goethe and the German Anti-Enlightenment

1995

Saturday 4th November 1995

Dr John Cairns – University of Edinburgh
Legal Theory and Legal Practice in the Scottish Enlightenment

Professor Charles McKean – University of Dundee
How Physical Form Affected the Enlightenment

Professor Dr Diethelm Klippel – Justus Liebig, Giessen
Luxury and the State in 18th Century Germany

Dr Martin Fitzpatrick – University College of Wales
The Enlightened Patriotism of Richard Price: Some further reflections

Professor Samuel Fleischacker – Williams College
Adam Smith on Self-Interest: Re-reading the “Wealth of Nations”

Dr Nicholas Phillipson – University of Edinburgh
Politeness, Sociability and the Science of Man; Adam Smith in Context

Saturday 14th October 1995

The Sciences and the Enlightenment

Dr Richard Yeo – Griffith University, Australia
Enlightenment Science and the Encyclopedias: Reflections on England and Scotland

Professor W.H. Barber – Oxford
Voltaire and Natural Science: Apples and Fossils

Professor M.A. Stewart – Lancaster University
Rational Religion in the Scottish Enlightenment

Professor Roger Emerson, University of Western Ontario
Scots Doctors in America, 1685-1800

At the beginning of his famous Treatise of Human Nature, the philosopher David Hume declared, boldly, that “‘[t]is evident that all the sciences have a relation, greater or less, to human nature; and that however wide any of them may seem to run from it, they still return back by one passage or another.” This “Science of Man”, as Hume described it (women were comprehended in his term), involved the study of human life in all its various aspects. Built on the empirical methods of inquiry that underpinned the Enlightenment, it was expected to provide the key to understanding central questions of human existence, from personal identity to the foundations of morality and of civil society, to the long-term patterns underlying the historical evolution of human culture, manners, and government. Not only Hume, but many other Scottish theorists – Adam Smith, John Millar, Thomas Reid, and Dugald Stewart, to name only a few – committed themselves to formulating an overarching science which became one of the central and distinctive intellectual concerns of the Scottish Enlightenment in the second half of the eighteenth century.

The belief that questions about morality, society, and history could be addressed by an empirical analysis of human nature was not self-evident, whatever Hume might claim. The aim of our research project on the “Science of Man” was to reconstruct the grounds on which these writers argued that this science was so important, and to investigate what it actually involved, in terms of the methods and paradigms that they developed, and which contributed to establish a new range of disciplines in the human sciences, from psychology and sociology to anthropology. To this end, we assembled a “primary group” of experts from around the world: philosophers, historians, literary scholars, linguists, social scientists and historians of science, whose common point of interest was the Scottish Enlightenment.

Detailed information is published on the project website: www.scienceofman.ed.ac.uk

This project was located in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities from 1995-1999 and funded by the Scots at War Trust under the patronage of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Colonel Diana Henderson was the Research Director.

The aim of the project was to research and collate information about Scots who served in the armed and civilian services in the 20th century. It was based on a website which quickly attracted an average of 1,000 worldwide users per month. The research and website publication was augmented by seminars involving veterans, scholars and students. Subjects have included the Royal Navy, the 51st Highland Division, Prisoners of War in South East Asia, Indian Army Scots, the Secret War, the Sergeants' Mess and the Women’s Land Army.

Scots at War Website

Scotland’s Transatlantic Relations

The STAR Project provided a locus for transatlantic research with a Scottish dimension; and through a variety of seminars, conferences, publication ventures and other collaborations, it provided texture for ongoing debates concerning transatlantic theory in practice. Further information is available on the STAR website.

Celebrating Connections: Hume (1711-2011)

The Institute’s Enlightenment focus in 2011 was on David Hume, with a year-long programme to celebrate the tercentenary of his birth.

David Hume was born in Edinburgh in 1711, attended the University of Edinburgh from 1723, and died in Edinburgh in 1776, having meanwhile achieved worldwide fame as an historian and philosopher. He and his associates were at the heart of the intellectual, literary and cultural events now known as the Scottish Enlightenment and he is generally recognised as the greatest philosopher ever to write in English. Today his work is studied by scholars from all over the world. Although Hume wrote in the 18th century, his works continue to be influential across a wide range of scholarship and remain uncommonly relevant to the philosophical disputes of the 21st century and a wide range of current public concerns. It was fitting, therefore, that the 300th anniversary of his birth should be celebrated here in Edinburgh in 2011.

The Institute and the University of Edinburgh marked the Tercentenary with a wide range of events throughout the year exploring the many aspects of Hume’s work and his legacy. These included large public occasions – such as Hume’s Birthday Party on 26 April; a University of Edinburgh Enlightenment Lecture by Professor Amartya Sen; and a Gifford Lecture by Lord Sutherland of Houndwood – as well as a series of five “Dialogues with Hume” at IASH and lunchtime talks on “Hume Today”. The “Dialogues with Hume” have been published as individual papers (see http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/publications/dialogues-with-hume/). In July 2011, the 38^th International Hume Society Conference was held at the University of Edinburgh, co-hosted by IASH, attracting Hume scholars from all over the world.

A number of eminent Hume scholars were Fellows of IASH in 2011 including Professor Don Garrett (New York University) who was at IASH as Carnegie Centenary Professor, and Dr Peter Millican (Hertford College, Oxford), the IASH Illumni David Hume Fellow. In addition playwrights Jo Clifford and Linda McLean held six month IASH/Traverse Creative Fellowships with commissions to write a play on some aspect of the life and work of David Hume. Jo Clifford’s play, The Tree of Knowledge, was performed at the Traverse Theatre from 8 – 24 December 2011.

Other events linked to the Hume Tercentenary included Beholder, an exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery, and other exhibitions at the The Writers’ Museum, Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland; as well as a conference on Enlightenment Aesthetics and Beyond

The Institute then created an annual David Hume Fellowship from 2013 to 2019, thanks to generous support from The Hume Society, the Scots Philosophical Association and to IASH Fellows and supporters. The first David Hume Fellowship was awarded to Professor Peter Fosl for 2013-14. Subsequent David Hume Fellows up to 2019 included Dr Tamás Demeter (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Dr Felix Waldmann (University of Cambridge), Professor Margaret Watkins (Saint Vincent College), Dr Max Skjönsberg (University of York) and Dr Adéla Rádková (Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes).

The full programme of events was as follows:

25 January	“Dialogues with Hume” Speaker: Emeritus Professor Peter Jones (University of Edinburgh): Conversation: And the Reception of David Hume
1 March	“Dialogues with Hume” Gathering Uncertainties: A Conversation between Linda McLean and Susan Manning
5 April	“Dialogues with Hume” Speaker: Professor Daniel Schulthess (University of Neuchâtel; Visiting Fellow of IASH): The ‘is/ought’ gap vs. speech act theory
26 April	Hume’s Birthday Party A celebration of Hume, chaired by broadcaster and journalist, Sheena McDonald, with: Dr Peter Millican (Philosophy, Hertford College, Oxford) Dr Richard Holloway (author and broadcaster; former Chair, Scottish Arts Council) Professor Susan Manning (English Literature, University of Edinburgh; Director of IASH) Dr Nicholas Phillipson (History, University of Edinburgh) A video of the event is available on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynpBrhxTy0E
3 May	“Dialogues with Hume” Speaker: Dr James Harris (University of St Andrews): Hume’s intellectual development: an overview
23 May	An RSE Lecture by Dr Peter Millican on The Significance of David Hume: Scepticism, Science and Superstition
17 June	“Dialogues with Hume” A dialogue between Professor Don Garrett (New York University and Carnegie Centenary Professor, IASH) and Dr Peter Millican (Hertford College, Oxford and Illumni Hume Fellow, IASH) on: Reason, Induction, and Causation in Hume’s Philosophy
18 July	University of Edinburgh Enlightenment Lecture by Professor Amartya Sen: David Hume and the Demands of Ethics Podcast available at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/video/lecture-series/enlightenment
18-23 July	38^th International Hume Society Conference: Hume after 300 Years Conference website: http://humesociety.org/conferences/pastConferences/Edinburgh2011/home.html
30 September	“Hume Today” Speaker: Professor David Fergusson (Divinity, University of Edinburgh): Hume as Religious Sceptic
7 October	“Hume Today” Speaker: Dr Tillman Vierkant (Philosophy, University of Edinburgh): The illusion of conscious will. On Wegner’s use of Hume’s associationism
21 October	“Hume Today” Speaker: Emeritus Professor Sheila Dow (Economics, University of Stirling): The Relevance of Hume for Modern Economics
24 October	“Taste and Tastemakers” – a lunchtime talk at IASH by Pat Fisher (Principal Curator, Talbot Rice Gallery)
25 October	Gifford Lecture by Lord Sutherland of Houndwood: David Hume and Civil Society Further information and video are at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/humanities-soc-sci/news-events/lectures/gifford-lectures/archive/2011-2012/lord-sutherland
28 October	“Hume Today” Speaker: Professor Mike Ridge (Philosophy, University of Edinburgh): Hume, The Circumstances of Justice, and Paternalism
4 November	“Hume Today” Speaker: Dr Nicholas Phillipson (History, University of Edinburgh): Hume: Philosophy, History and the Science of Man
14 December	Nature of Knowledge Lecture by Professor Paul Guyer (F.R.C. Murray Professor in the Humanities, and Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania): Hume, Kant, and the Passion of Reason
15 -16 December	Conference on “Enlightenment Aesthetics and Beyond” See: http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/philosophy/events/view/enlightenment-aesthetics-and-beyond

Other related events:

1 February	The Edinburgh Lecture by Dr Nicholas Phillipson: Edinburgh – then and now: a modern Athens?
16 June	Conference organised by SIRE on Hume’s Influence on Economics: New Perspectives Programme at http://www.sire.ac.uk/documents/SIRE_Hume_16June2011.pdf

Exhibitions:

26 April-17 September	“David Hume 1711-1776: Man of letters, Scientist of Man” at the Writers’ Museum, Lady Stairs Close, Edinburgh
5 May-28 June	The Virtuous Infidel: David Hume 1711-1776” at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
17 November -18 February	“Beholder”, an exhibition in the University of Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery Old College, South Bridge