Pangur Bán
Deconstructed
I think that the new civs should go to non-European areas. But since it is possible that another few European civs will go into the XP, the Scots are a natural choice. So many people are saying that Hungary, Poland and Holland should go in, but in my opinion, the Scots have a much stronger case.
Why should a civilization that is small today and lost its political independence in 1707 be included?
Golden Age
Scotland had a golden age as great and significant as any other golden age in history. All the Union did for the first century or so was take away the right of the Scots to decide foreign policy alone and added to their trading power. Civic Scotland retained its independence. Knox had wished to establish a new Christian civilization in Scotland. Presbyterian Scotland was the New Jerusalem and the new Athens respectively, to the religious and intellectuals who lived in it. The Scottish Enlightenments achievements were colossal because of the private self-confidence everyone had. Religion was important, but no other golden age has done more damage to Religion or Science. The Scottish Enlightenment challenged and promoted both.
The Enlightenment in Scotland was important partly because it created the idea that the Arts could be studied like a science. This is why people say that the Scottish Enlightenment created the Social Sciences. Their approach was that Human beings should be the subject of scientific investigation. This form of extreme humanism was not totally unique, but it is the form that forms the basis of the western education system today.
It was an age where Hume demolished causation just as he demolished Christian concepts of morality, the Soul/ Self and miracles . If the basis of religion is the soul and revelation, he undermined both. The problem of the Self raised by Hume has only been ignored, and never effectively challenged. No one can believe in any afterlife, any soul-issuing God, etc, without ignoring the challenge. As if religion weren't enough, his scepticism and attack on causation undermine the foundation of science as we know it. The problem of causation, which Hume raised, has only ever been effectively ignored, never solved, although frequently complicated. He undermined the idea of causation as it was universally when he wrote, and as it is now among virtually all people. The problems raised by Hume are catastrophic for human thinking in general.
But it was also an age where figures, like Hutton, who is regarded as the father of geology, suggested that the Earth was a lot older than the Bible said it was.
It was an age where Smith provided what was basically the outline of Market
Economy in capitalistic terms. Economics started as a discipline in the Scottish Enlightenment. It was an age where Adam Ferguson introduced the method of studying humankind in groups and is father of the subject now called "Sociology and where Humes methods arguably make him the real father of psychology
It was an age where James MacPherson kicked off Romantic literature all over the Western world with his discovery of the Celtic Homer. His poems were later discovered to be mostly fraudulent, but the impact was immense. The Romantic Movement was thereafter associated with ancient folk tales and the like, making successful the works of Scott, the Grimm Brothers and Wagner.
An age where Walter Scott was the greatest literary figure in Europe, with his new style of work, the historical novel. Scott not only invented the historical novel, but he made the novel itself something that fashionable people could read.
Why should a civilization that is small today and lost its political independence in 1707 be included?
Golden Age
Scotland had a golden age as great and significant as any other golden age in history. All the Union did for the first century or so was take away the right of the Scots to decide foreign policy alone and added to their trading power. Civic Scotland retained its independence. Knox had wished to establish a new Christian civilization in Scotland. Presbyterian Scotland was the New Jerusalem and the new Athens respectively, to the religious and intellectuals who lived in it. The Scottish Enlightenments achievements were colossal because of the private self-confidence everyone had. Religion was important, but no other golden age has done more damage to Religion or Science. The Scottish Enlightenment challenged and promoted both.
The Enlightenment in Scotland was important partly because it created the idea that the Arts could be studied like a science. This is why people say that the Scottish Enlightenment created the Social Sciences. Their approach was that Human beings should be the subject of scientific investigation. This form of extreme humanism was not totally unique, but it is the form that forms the basis of the western education system today.
It was an age where Hume demolished causation just as he demolished Christian concepts of morality, the Soul/ Self and miracles . If the basis of religion is the soul and revelation, he undermined both. The problem of the Self raised by Hume has only been ignored, and never effectively challenged. No one can believe in any afterlife, any soul-issuing God, etc, without ignoring the challenge. As if religion weren't enough, his scepticism and attack on causation undermine the foundation of science as we know it. The problem of causation, which Hume raised, has only ever been effectively ignored, never solved, although frequently complicated. He undermined the idea of causation as it was universally when he wrote, and as it is now among virtually all people. The problems raised by Hume are catastrophic for human thinking in general.
But it was also an age where figures, like Hutton, who is regarded as the father of geology, suggested that the Earth was a lot older than the Bible said it was.
It was an age where Smith provided what was basically the outline of Market
Economy in capitalistic terms. Economics started as a discipline in the Scottish Enlightenment. It was an age where Adam Ferguson introduced the method of studying humankind in groups and is father of the subject now called "Sociology and where Humes methods arguably make him the real father of psychology
It was an age where James MacPherson kicked off Romantic literature all over the Western world with his discovery of the Celtic Homer. His poems were later discovered to be mostly fraudulent, but the impact was immense. The Romantic Movement was thereafter associated with ancient folk tales and the like, making successful the works of Scott, the Grimm Brothers and Wagner.
An age where Walter Scott was the greatest literary figure in Europe, with his new style of work, the historical novel. Scott not only invented the historical novel, but he made the novel itself something that fashionable people could read.
I tell you what, Calgacus, send this post to Firaxis: they'll add the Scots to the game with the best and most comprehensive civilopedia entry ever...
I don't really need any other new europeans either. I want to see as many african civs as I can get.
)
