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Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics
Natural Rights on the Threshold of the Scottish Enlightenment: The Writings of Gershom Carmichael
An important figure in the natural law tradition and in the Scottish Enlightenment, Gershom Carmichael defended a strong theory of rights and drew attention to Grotius, Pufendorf, and Locke.
Gershom Carmichael was a teacher and writer who played an important role in the Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. His philosophy focused on the natural rights of individuals—the natural right to defend oneself, to own the property on which one has labored, and to services contracted for with others. Carmichael argued that slavery is incompatible with the rights of men and citizens, and he believed that subjects have the right to resist rulers who exceed the limits of their powers.
Although he appealed to the authority of Grotius and Locke, the grounds on which he defended natural rights were distinctively his own. He drew upon the Reformed or Presbyterian theology to propose that, in respecting the natural rights of individuals, one shows one’s reverence for God’s creation. Inasmuch as all of mankind longs for lasting happiness, which can be found only in worship of or reverence for God, such reverence is the natural law which obliges all to respect the rights of all.
Natural Rights includes Supplements and Observations on Pufendorf (1724), Natural Theology (1729), Logic (1722), two theses, and a manuscript on teaching, all in English for the first time.
Gershom Carmichael (1672–1729) was the first professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, preceding Hutcheson, Smith, and Reid.
James Moore is Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal.
Michael Silverthorne is Honorary University Fellow in the School of Classics at the University of Exeter.
Knud Haakonssen
is Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.
Gershom Carmichael was a teacher and writer who played an important role in the Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. His philosophy focused on the natural rights of individuals—the natural right to defend oneself, to own the property on which one has labored, and to services contracted for with others. Carmichael argued that slavery is incompatible with the rights of men and citizens, and he believed that subjects have the right to resist rulers who exceed the limits of their powers.
Although he appealed to the authority of Grotius and Locke, the grounds on which he defended natural rights were distinctively his own. He drew upon the Reformed or Presbyterian theology to propose that, in respecting the natural rights of individuals, one shows one’s reverence for God’s creation. Inasmuch as all of mankind longs for lasting happiness, which can be found only in worship of or reverence for God, such reverence is the natural law which obliges all to respect the rights of all.
Natural Rights includes Supplements and Observations on Pufendorf (1724), Natural Theology (1729), Logic (1722), two theses, and a manuscript on teaching, all in English for the first time.
Gershom Carmichael (1672–1729) was the first professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, preceding Hutcheson, Smith, and Reid.
James Moore is Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal.
Michael Silverthorne is Honorary University Fellow in the School of Classics at the University of Exeter.
Knud Haakonssen
is Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.
- GenresPhilosophy
430 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
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About the author
Gershom Carmichael
3 booksGershom Carmichael (1672 - 1729) was a Scottish philosopher.
Carmichael was a Scottish subject born in London, the son of Alexander Charmichael, a Church of Scotland minister who had been banished by the Scottish privy council for his religious opinions. As a child, he suffered from crooked limbs (probably rickets) and was treated by "body menders" who made him wear limb braces. Through his friendship with the Duke of Hamilton, Carmichael visited Bath to take the waters and he was eventually able to dispense with the braces.
Carmichael graduated at Edinburgh University in 1691, and became a regent at St Andrews. In 1694 he was elected a master in the university of Glasgow – an office that was converted into the professorship of moral philosophy in 1727, when the system of masters was abolished at Glasgow. He died in Glasgow.
Sir William Hamilton regarded him as "the real founder of the Scottish school of philosophy." He wrote Breviuscula Introductio ad Logicam, a treatise on logic and the psychology of the intellectual powers, combining Arnauld and Nicole with Locke; Synopsis Theologiae Naturalis; and an edition of Pufendorf, De Officio Hominis et Civis, with notes and supplements of high value. His son Frederick was the author of Sermons on Several Important Subjects and Sermons on Christian Zeal, both published in 1753.
Carmichael was a Scottish subject born in London, the son of Alexander Charmichael, a Church of Scotland minister who had been banished by the Scottish privy council for his religious opinions. As a child, he suffered from crooked limbs (probably rickets) and was treated by "body menders" who made him wear limb braces. Through his friendship with the Duke of Hamilton, Carmichael visited Bath to take the waters and he was eventually able to dispense with the braces.
Carmichael graduated at Edinburgh University in 1691, and became a regent at St Andrews. In 1694 he was elected a master in the university of Glasgow – an office that was converted into the professorship of moral philosophy in 1727, when the system of masters was abolished at Glasgow. He died in Glasgow.
Sir William Hamilton regarded him as "the real founder of the Scottish school of philosophy." He wrote Breviuscula Introductio ad Logicam, a treatise on logic and the psychology of the intellectual powers, combining Arnauld and Nicole with Locke; Synopsis Theologiae Naturalis; and an edition of Pufendorf, De Officio Hominis et Civis, with notes and supplements of high value. His son Frederick was the author of Sermons on Several Important Subjects and Sermons on Christian Zeal, both published in 1753.
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