Scotland's generalist approach to higher education - unified through a broad, philosophical interpretation - characterised the country's intellectual life, even into the 19th century, when economic, social and political pressures enforced an increasing conformity to English models. This is an account of the history of these movements, and of the great personalities involved.

Author Biography

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.