INTRODUCTION

Few periods are more interesting than the eighteenth century in Scotland. In terms of the history of events and ideas, the period witnessed Union between England and Scotland, and at least three unsuccessful rebellions, but above all a pattern of growth and change which was matched by a corresponding interest in these phenomena. The ruling feature of the work done by Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson and John Millar was the interest shown not only in events but in change; not only in the structure of society as it was presented to their eyes but also in its origins. The approach was thoroughly Aristotelian and resulted in a type of historical investigation which was described by Dugald Stewart as ‘theoretical’ and ‘conjectural’, and which was to become celebrated under the title of ‘philosophical history’. Whatever the merits of the approach it is possible to say that the beginnings of modern social science are to be found in the eighteenth century-in the work of Quesnay and Turgot in France, Adam Smith, William Robertson and John Millar in Scotland. Among the contributors to Scotland’s intellectual dominance at this time, we must number Sir James Steuart (1713-80) whose Principles

(1767) constitutes one of the first systematic treatments of economics as a distinct area of study. Although the period and the subject are properly dominated by the name of Adam Smith, Steuart anticipated the more lucid and influential Wealth of Nations not only in terms of his obvious interest in the origins of the economic institutions which faced him but also in his selfconscious attempt to establish political economy as a distinct branch of social science.