the University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen's new Centre for the Study of Scottish Philosophy will be launched this afternoon (Friday March 14), with a lecture on The Study of Scottish Philosophy by the Centre's Director, Professor Gordon Graham, Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy. Principal C Duncan Rice, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, will chair the event, to be held at the King's College Conference Centre at 4.15pm.
Professor Graham, said: "Scottish philosophy is unquestionably the jewel in Scotland's intellectual crown, but surprisingly hitherto it has been more studied abroad than at home. The new Centre aims to remedy that, and to draw together the considerable resources and expertise that exist not just in Aberdeen but in the ancient Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews as well."
Professor Alexander Broadie, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric, at the University of Glasgow and Editor of the highly successful collection, The Scottish Enlightenment, said: "I very much welcome the new Centre. It is high time a Scottish university gave express recognition to the importance of Scottish philosophy."
Philosophy has been taught at Aberdeen since King's College was founded in 1495. Thomas Reid, a lecturer there from 1751 to 1764, was one of the principal intellectual figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, and founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense Philosophy, whose influence on the history of ideas in Europe and North America was immense. In 1997, Aberdeen launched a major research initiative - the Reid Project - to highlight the University's collection of Thomas Reid's manuscripts and to promote the study of his works. Almost immediately, it attracted world-wide interest, with visiting researchers from Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the US, and funding from the Carnegie Trust, the British Academy and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.
The Centre for the Study of Scottish Philosophy, the first of its kind in the world, aims to build upon this success and the evident rise in interest in Scottish philosophy. Activities will include: a new Journal of Scottish Philosophy, published by Edinburgh University Press; a Library of Scottish Philosophy published by Imprint Academic which, for the first time, will make the writings of a wide range of Scottish philosophers available in affordable and expertly edited paperbacks and a range of the latest online research tools to assist in the identification and study of all aspects of Scottish philosophy. In addition, a rich and varied programme of conferences and meetings is planned, including the International Reid Symposia, which regularly draws participants from five continents.