Introduction

Dugald Stewart's Lectures on Political Economy

Dugald Stewart (1753 – 1828) was a Scottish philosopher, mathematician and political economist. Today regarded as one of the most important figures of the later Scottish Enlightenment, in his own time he was known as a populariser of the work of Francis Hutcheson, David Hume and Adam Smith. 

In 1799, Dugald Stewart introduced a lecture course on 'political economy' to the University of Edinburgh, and in doing so he broke new ground. While political and economic subjects had formed integral parts of the moral philosophy tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment, Stewart was the first to teach a separate course dedicated to political economy at an academic institution in Britain. Although Stewart never published any work on the topic of political economy, his lectures at the University of Edinburgh were widely disseminated by his many influential students, several of whom took meticulous notes. In this online archive, a number of these notes are made available for the first time. 

Aknowledgement

The institue of Intellectual History owes an anormous debt to everyone involed in the transcription of these lectures, not least Joon Hyung Kim, Jason Isbit and Lasse Andersen. Our greatest debt is owed to Dr Lina Weber. 

Contact

The Institute welcomes questions and corrections regarding the trascriptions. Please get in touch through our contact page.