1st Edition

Robert Burns and the Philosophers

By J Walter McGinty Copyright 2018
    286 Pages
    by Routledge

    286 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Contents





     



     



    Acknowledgements





    Introduction





     



    Chapter 1 Homespun philosophy





    Chapter 2 John Locke I - Opening up other worlds





    Chapter 3 Adam Smith I - Theory of Moral Sentiments





    Chapter 4 Adam Smith II – The Wealth of Nations





    Chapter 5 Francis Hutcheson – A shared outlook





    Chapter 6 Thomas Reid – Common Sense





    Chapter 7 Dugald Stewart – The local philosopher





    Chapter 8 Archibald Alison and William Greenfield –A confidence achieved



    Appendix List of Authors or texts quoted or alluded to by William Greenfield in his Essays on the sources of the pleasures received from literary



    composition, that were known to Robert Burns.





    References and Notes





    Bibliography





    Index

    Biography



    J. Walter McGinty received his PhD at the University of Strathclyde on



    ‘Literary, Philosophical and Theological Influences on Robert Burns’.



    Dr McGinty is an ordained Minister, having trained for the Ministry of



    the Church of Scotland at the University of Glasgow and Trinity College



    Glasgow. Other publications are Robert Burns and Religion, (Ashgate);



    and Robert Burns the Book Lover: From Reader to Writer, (Humming



    Earth.) The present volume completes the trilogy of books that have



    examined the influence of the reading of Robert Burns. McGinty has



    also written a biography, ‘An Animated Son of Liberty’: A Life of John



    Witherspoon, (Arena) and has published papers on ‘John Goldie and



    Robert Burns’ and ‘Milton’s Satan and Burns’s Auld Nick’ in Studies in



    Scottish Literature Vols XXIX and XXXIII.