Scotland: A Land of Wisdom
In the 1740s, the famous French philosopher Voltaire said We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization. Thats not a bad advertisement for any country when it comes to attracting people to search for a first-class education.
According to the American author Arthur Herman, the Scots invented the modern world itself. He argues that Scottish thinkers and intellectuals worked out many of the most important ideas on which modern life depends-everything from the scientific method to market economics. Their ideas did not just spread among intellectuals, but to those people in business, government and the sciences who actually shaped the Western world.
It all started during the period that historians call the Scottish Enlightenment,which is usually seen as taking place between the years 1740 and 1800.Before that, philosophy was mainly concerned with religion. For the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, the proper study of humanity was mankind itself.
Their reasoning was practical. For the philosopher David Hume, humanity was the right subject for philosophy because we can examine human behavior and so find real evidence of how people think and feel. And from that we can make judgments about the societies we live in and make concrete suggestions about how they can be improved, for universal benefit.
Humes enquiry into the nature of knowledge laid the foundations for the scientific method-the pursuit of truth through experiment. His friend and fellow resident of Edinburgh, Adam Smith, famously applied the study of mankind to the ways in which mankind does business. Trade, he argued, was a form of information. In pursuing our own interests through trading in markets, we all come to benefit each other.
Smiths idea has dominated modern views of economics. It also has wide applications. He was one of the philosophers to point out that nations can become rich, free and powerful through peace, trade and invention.
Although the Scottish Enlightenment ended a long time ago, the ideas which evolved at that time still underpinour theories of human exchange and enquiry. It also exists in Scotland itself in an educational tradition that combines academic excellence with orientation.
16. Scotland is the right place to receive a first-class education.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
17. According to Arthur Herman, the Scots developed many important ideas which modern life depends on.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
18. Philosophers had come to know the importance of studying humanity even before the Scottish Enlightenment took place.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
19. David Hume was the first philosopher to study mankind.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
20. Smiths idea has extensive applications.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
21. Our current theories of human exchange and enquiry have nothing to do with the ideas developed during the Scottish Enlightenment.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
22. Smith died in 1800.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
学好英语的39个经典要诀之1到10
中考英语指导:动词suggest的用法详解
中考支招:英语每天要做一套模拟试题
归纳英语日期表达里的三方面规范
应对中考英语题型变化名师为你支招
中考英语10天冲刺策略:补缺拾漏增强实力
中考英语数词六大考点概述及例题解析
中考英语:部分否定的七种表示方法
中考英语完形填空答题四大步骤
中考英语 典型错题多分析
09中考必看:英语复习方法—激发发散思维
偏科诊断,破解单词记忆之道
中考英语复习辅导资料之三数词、形容词和副词点击下载
中考英语:可数不可数千万别马虎
作文素材:英语作文的文章的开头
中学英语:如何写好英语句子的8种方法
中考最后冲刺名师点拨英语易错点
学好英语的39个经典要诀之11到20
名师指点:中考英语冲刺“得阅读者得天下”
中考英语复习:考点说明及巩固练习系列一词汇
09中考英语语法【速记口诀】及【妙语诠释】汇总
09中考英语单项选择之六大解题方法 word下载
“中药类”学科英语:需踏踏实实积累知识
中考英语阅读理解失分全攻略
初中英语作文病句和错句修改
08中考英语热点试题大演练
2008年中考复习指南:英语写作范例
最新推荐:09中考英语易混点实例解析
考前点拨:中考英语典型陷阱题例析
英语课堂:小小“like”用法多
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |