ABSTRACT
The enlightened Scots depended on the belief in observation and the attraction to a formal investigation of the operations of the mind, building upon Locke’s exposé of experience as the major source of knowledge and his analysis of how the human mind operates. Locke’s theories of consciousness and assemblages for a proposed science of the mind were based on what humans perceived: first, an idea of the object; and next, an examination of mental activities and functions resulting from that perception, such as sensations, sentiments, and passions. As a rule, the Scots viewed experience as grist for the mind’s active processes. Hutcheson, Hume, and Reid especially moved in this direction. Some literati sought ways in which to explore connections between beauty and goodness that justify matters of taste in aesthetics and behaviors, placing these in analogical relationships. They also mined the inductive method to suggest general principles of organization and to make assumptions of specific effects that are connected to similar causes. Still others utilized an approach of making connections between past and present experiences, held in the memory and where there might not be any natural correspondence other than what the mind itself associates.
