Epistemologies of Progress

This Element discusses the new consideration of the ambiguities inherent in eighteenth-century thought on the epistemologies of progress and the fast-growing body of scholarship identifying the role of scepticism in Enlightenment philosophy across Europe.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. James Dunbar and the 'Instinctive Propensities' of lay knowledge; 2. John Millar and the certainties of colonialism; 3. Ossian and the biases of commercial modernity; Conclusion; Bibliography.

Summary

This Element discusses the new consideration of the ambiguities inherent in eighteenth-century thought on the epistemologies of progress and the fast-growing body of scholarship identifying the role of scepticism in Enlightenment philosophy across Europe.

Foreword

The Element explores the new understandings of eighteenth-century scepticism to identify caution related to the idea of progress.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Adelman, Richard (University of Sussex) Adelman
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2025
• EAN: 9781009614207
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0961420-7
• No. of pages: 70
• Series: Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, European History, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology, Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology, Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge, Philosophy: logic, Western philosophy: Enlightenment, C 1700 To C 1800, Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge