The Scottish Enlightenment Theory of Population Growth

The 18th century Scotland was characterized by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments known as the Scottish enlightenment. “The Scottish Enlightenment thinkers (Adam Smith, David Hume and Adam Ferguson among others) asserted the fundamental importance of human reason combined with a rejection of all authority which could not be justified by reason. They held an optimistic belief in the ability of humanity to make changes for the better in society and nature, guided only by reason” and therefore made a substantial contribution to our understanding of social phenomena and particularly the mechanism of population growth. How these thinkers have marked the intellectual landscape of their day and ours depends on a good understanding of their theory of population growth.
By doing so, this study uses the documentary research to examine the original contribution of the Scottish enlightenment to the understanding of the social phenomena of population growth and the particularity of their theory. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of a multidisciplinary approach in the field of research in population theories by combining history of ideas and theories of population growth.

Keywords: Scottish enlightenment, population growth theory