The Scottish Enlightenment and Geology The Key Figure: James Hutton Where is James Hutton from? Who is he? What were the steps in his life, the people in his life who shaped his life and ideas? How did he shape the world in turn? In my eyes the key person who represents the Scottish Enlightenment is James Hutton. He is the Great Man of historical theory, who ushered in a new age of thinking. The man who stood up to the church, the man who wondered Scotland, bringing back the knowledge to the masses, the man who touched God himself through time (not that way). Did James Hutton step forward, using the might of his mind to move rocks? To move time itself? Or James Hutton was a product of his time. He wasn’t the great man just one of many, part of a network of individuals, building Science in the pubs and tea houses of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. He used the ideas of his fellow thinkers from the same era and the ideas of people who came before him. Hutton is an interesting character
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