ABSTRACT
The significance of the Spirit of the Laws in Scotland and of Hume's Essays in France proves that transnational histories of the Enlightenment have much to offer. Ships traveling between Scotland and France whose passengers included enlightened intellectuals always seemed to set sail from Scotland, never from France. The ever-increasing prominence of theories of social contract and natural rights in France during the second half of the century was a movement that silently pushed Montesquieu to the sidelines. Montesquieu is so important to a full appreciation of the Scottish Enlightenment that people shall devote an entire chapter to his thought and its influence. For anyone examining the political thought of the Enlightenment, the comparative study of Scotland and France can yield striking results. In France, precisely the opposite is true: the philosophies were constantly defined by their battle against the reactionary Catholic Church; their ranks filled with agnostics and atheists.
