Modern Infidels, Conscientious Fools, and the Douglas Affair: The Orthodox Rhetoric of Conscience in the Scottish Enlightenment

This article sheds new light on the 'Douglas' affair: a controversy between orthodox Calvinist theologians and well-known Scottish Enlightenment literati. It demonstrates that Calvinist opposition to 'Douglas' included a rhetoric of conscience, which also obtained during earlier controversies in Scotland over church patronage. The orthodox rhetoric of conscience challenges the view that the Scottish Enlightenment was a contest between orthodox traditionalism and the literati’s ‘polite’ progressivism. Instead, the orthodox used their rhetoric of conscience (which included appeals to the English ethical rationalist, Samuel Clarke), to counter the idea that they were less ‘enlightened’ and more ‘conservative’ than Scotland’s literati.