ScotlanD.A Land of Wisdom

In the l740s,thefamous French philosopher Voltaire said“We look to Scotland for all our ideas ofcivilization.”That's not a bad advertisement for any country when it comes

to attracting peopleto search for a first-class education.

According to theAmerican author Arthur Herman,the Scots invented the modern world it-self. Heargues that Scottish thinkers and intellectuals worked out many of the most

important ideas onwhich modern life depends-everything from the scientific method to marketeconomics.Their ideas did not just spread among intellectuals,but to those

people inbusiness,government and the sciences who actually shaped the Western world.

It all startedduring the period that historians call the Scottish Enlightenment（启蒙运动）, which is usually seen as takingplace between the years 1740 and 1800.Before

that,philosophy wasmainly concerned with religion.For the thinkers of the ScottishEnlightenment,the proper study of humanity was mankind itself.

Their reasoning waspractical.For the philosopher David Hume,humanity was the right sub-ject forphilosophy because we can examine human behavior and so find real

evidence of how peo-ple think and feel.And from that we can make judgments about the societies welive in and make concrete suggestions about how they can be improved

for universalbenefit.

Hume's enquiry intothe nature of knowledge laid the foundations for the scientific method- thepursuit of truth through experiment. His friend and fellow resident of

Edinburgh,AdamSmith, famously applied the study of mankind to the ways in which mankind doesbusiness.Trade,he ar- gued,was a form of information.In pursuing our

own interests throughtrading in markets,we all come to benefit each other.

Smith's idea hasdominated modern views of economics.It also has wide applications.He was one ofthe philosophers to point out that nations can become rich,free and

powerful throughpeace,trade and invention.

Although theScottish Enlightenment ended a long time ago,the ideas which evolved at thattime still underpin（构成……的基础）our theories of human exchange and

enquiry. It alsoexists in Scotland itself in an educational tradition that combines academicexcellence with orientation（方向）.

Our currenttheories of human exchange and enquiry have nothing to do with the ideasdeveloped during the Scottish Enlightenment.

A.Right

B..Wrong

C. Not mentioned