Francis Hutcheson

Daniel Floyd (University of Aberdeen)
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Francis Hutcheson was the first in a line of Scottish philosophers that would eventually include David Hume (1711-76), Adam Smith (1723-90) and Thomas Reid (1710-96). His influence on moral philosophy and aesthetics proved far-reaching. Recent critical appraisals have tended to focus on his analyses of the arts, although his contemporaries largely reserved their comments for his work on morality, the topic with which most of his work was concerned. In 1900, Hutcheson's biographer, William Robert Scott, listed a substantial number of books and pamphlets inspired by his publications on ethics and religion, but none on his theory of taste.¹ However, lack of commentary during Hutcheson's lifetime did not mean that his theory of beauty was ignored; on the contrary, it was widely cited and…

1091 words

Citation: Floyd, Daniel. "Francis Hutcheson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2275, accessed 29 March 2024.]

2275 Francis Hutcheson 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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