Natural Rights on the Threshold of the Scottish Enlightenment: The Writings of Gershom Carmichael

Gershom Carmichael (1672–1729) was the first professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, preceding Hutcheson, Smith, and Reid. His philosophy focused on the natural rights of individuals—the natural right to defend oneself, to own the property on which one has labored, and to services contracted for with others. Although he appealed to the authority of Grotius and Locke, the grounds on which he defended natural rights were distinctively his own. Natural Rights is the first m...