Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)
Francis Hutcheson LLD was an Irish philosopher born in Ulster to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became known as one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University and is remembered as author of A System of Moral Philosophy.
Portrait of Hutcheson by Allan Ramsay, circa 1745. Wearing a black academic gown over a brown coat, Hutcheson holds a copy of Cicero's De finibus.
Plaque to Francis Hutcheson on the Guildhall, Saintfield
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Scottish Lowlands and five universities. The Enlightenment culture was based on close readings of new books, and intense discussions which took place daily at such intellectual gathering places in Edinburgh as The Select Society and, later, The Poker Club, as well as within Scotland's ancient universities.
David Hume and Adam Smith on the Scottish National Portrait Gallery