This volume expounds the influence of Robert Burns’s reading of Philosophy on his life and work, supplementing this with his personal encounters with those philosophers he met. The work begins with the Homespun Philosophy of his early years under the tutelage of William Burnes and John Murdoch, then examines in detail some of the texts of John Locke, Adam Smith and Francis Hutcheson, including other writers who reflect Hutcheson’s thinking. Further chapters include the exploration on Thomas Reid, Dugald Stewart, Archibald Alison and William Greenfield. Robert Burns and the Philosophers does not purport to be a work of philosophy but rather to show the poet’s reaction to the subject and the development of his understanding. This work opens up a subject that hitherto has been almost unexplored.

In this accessible book, Gavin Kennedy takes a fresh look at Adam Smith's moral philosophy and its links to his political economy and his lectures on Jurisprudence. The book provides a new analysis of Wealth of Nations , and argues that Adam Smith's intellectual legacy was completely transformed in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries by economists pursuing different agendas, to create ideas and policies that Smith did not advocate. It also provides a new explanation for the main mysteries about Smith's later life.

This book is unashamedly aimed at a wider market than the ordinary academic volume, as it seeks to extend the impact of the research it contains, making it available to the worldwide community of Burns enthusiasts, without compromising on scholarship. Contributors have been selected not only for their academic rigour and reputation, but also because of their ability to handle their material with elegance and accessibility for the general reader. They offer fresh insights for both academic and general readers, not least through the volume's interdisciplinary approaches, including a contribution from the great interpreter of Burns's songs, Sheena Wellington. A key part of this volume's attraction lies in the way it opens up fresh issues and aspects of performance and performativity and their impact on our perception of Robert Burns and his work.

New essays on Burns' special place in Scottish, English and Irish literary cultureIn this volume, 17 leading Burns scholars, poetry critics and practising poets reflect on the enduring significance of one of the most important poets of the 18th century. They show that Burns was a highly innovative and technically accomplished poet, as capable of transforming earlier traditions as of launching new literary trends.Looks at Burns' place amongst his literary predecessors, contemporaries and heirs, including:* Scottish poets such as Ramsay, Fergusson, Byron, Hogg, MacDiarmid, Paterson, Dunn & Mackay Brown* English poets such as Milton, Addison, Gray & Wordsworth* Classical writers such as Virgil* Irish poets such as Merriman, Goldsmith, Dermody & HeaneyBy looking at Burns in the context of other poets, each chapter sheds new lighton his own practices and the practice of poetry in general. They investigate the political, national, philosophical and ethical aspects of his poetry, showing how you can deepen

This book consists of a survey of the great debate on miracles, which, though it was a major feature of the English literary scene in the period in question, has never before been researched in depth. The arguments of Boyle, Locke, Clarke, and Butler (along with those of others) are considered, and Hume's famous essay "Of Miracles" is examined more closely than ever before.

Anyone who has sat on a jury or followed a high-profile trial on television usually comes to the realization that a trial, particularly a criminal trial, is really a performance. Verdicts seem determined as much by which lawyer can best connect with the hearts and minds of the jurors as by what the evidence might suggest. In this celebration of the American trial as a great cultural achievement, Robert Burns, a trial lawyer and a trained philosopher, explores how these legal proceedings bring about justice. The trial, he reminds us, is not confined to the impartial application of legal rules to factual findings. Burns depicts the trial as an institution employing its own language and styles of performance that elevate the understanding of decision-makers, bringing them in contact with moral sources beyond the limits of law. Burns explores the rich narrative structure of the trial, beginning with the lawyers' opening statements, which establish opposing moral frameworks in which to interpret the evidence. In the succession of witnesses, stories compete and are held in tension. At some point during the performance, a sense of the right thing to do arises among the jurors. How this happens is at the core of Burns's investigation, which draws on careful descriptions of what trial lawyers do, the rules governing their actions, interpretations of actual trial material, social science findings, and a broad philosophical and political appreciation of the trial as a unique vehicle of American self-government.

An emphasis on our capacity to reason, rather than merely to represent, has been growing in philosophy over the years. This book gives an overview of the author's understanding of the role of reason as the structure at once of our minds and our meanings - what constitutes us as free, responsible agents.

The Celtic Unconscious offers a vital new interpretation of modernist literature through an examination of James Joyce’s employment of Scottish literature and philosophy, as well as a commentary on his portrayal of shared Irish and Scottish histories and cultures. Barlow also offers an innovative look at the strong influences that Joyce’s predecessors had on his work, including James Macpherson, James Hogg, David Hume, Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson. The book draws upon all of Joyce’s major texts but focuses mainly on Finnegans Wake in making three main, interrelated arguments: that Joyce applies what he sees as a specifically “Celtic” viewpoint to create the atmosphere of instability and skepticism of Finnegans Wake; that this reasoning is divided into contrasting elements, which reflect the deep religious and national divide of post-1922 Ireland, but which have their basis in Scottish literature; and finally, that despite the illustration of the contrasts and divisions of Scottish and Irish history, Scottish literature and philosophy are commissioned by Joyce as part of a program of artistic “decolonization” which is enacted in Finnegans Wake. The Celtic Unconscious is the first book-length study of the role of Scottish literature in Joyce’s work and is a vital contribution to the fields of Irish and Scottish studies. This book will appeal to scholars and students of Joyce, and to students interested in Irish studies, Scottish studies, and English literature.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Real Robert Burns" by James L. Hughes. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.