The Democratic Intellect - George Davie

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Résumé :
'Davie offers an insight into some of the more crucial issues of modern times. A truly seminal work in the Scottish intellectual tradition.' James Kelman First published in 1961, The Democratic Intellect provoked a new relationship with Scotland's philosophy of itself. Scotland has always had a distinctive approach to higher education. From the inauguration of its first universities, the accent has been on first principles. This unified the approach to knowledge - even of mathematics and science - through a broad, philosophical interpretation. This generalist tradition, contrasting with the specialism of the two English universities, Oxford and Cambridge, stood Scotland in good stead. It characterised its intellectual life, even into the 19th century, when economic, social and political pressures enforced an increasing conformity to English models. George Davie's account of the history of these movements, and of the great personalities involved, has proved seminal in restoring to Scotland a sense of cultural identity. The Democratic Intellect is rightly regarded as a benchmark in Scotland's intellectual heritage and continues to have a marked influence on those promoting enquiry and improvement within our colleges and universities. George Elder Davie (1912-2007) was one of Scotland's most influential modern philosophers. He was Reader in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His other publications include The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect, The Scotch Metaphysics: a Century of Enlightenment in Scotland and two volumes of essays: The Scottish Enlightenment and Other Essays and A Passion for Ideas.

Biographie:

George Elder Davie (1912-2007) was one of Scotland's most influential modern philosophers. He was Reader in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Lindsay Paterson is Professor of Educational Policy at the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely on the expansion and purposes of higher education, on social mobility, on the relationship between education and civic values, on the twentieth-century history of Scottish education, and on Scottish politics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Richard Gunn is a retired lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He lectured in political theory in the Department of Politics and, subsequently, the Politics area in the School of Social and Political Studies

Murdo Macdonald is Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee. He was editor of Edinburgh Review from 1990-1994. He is author of Scottish Art in Thames and Hudson's World of Art series.