The S cottish E nlightenment and S cottish Independence

As the 2014 referendum on whether S cotland should become an independent country approaches, there is increasing debate about the nature and advantages of the relationship between S cotland and the rest of the U nited K ingdom. This paper seeks to examine the views on the U nion between S cotland and E ngland that are found in the writings of the main figures of the eighteenth century S cottish E nlightenment. It examines the arguments that S cotland's most famous social and political thinkers, such as D avid H ume and A dam S mith, put forward in favour of union with E ngland and uses them to inform the contemporary debate.