Anti-Slavery Theory In The Scottish Enlightenment School

The theory of historical progress is a fruit of the European Enlightenment in the 18 century. Unlike the radicalness of the French Enlightenment, the Scottish Enlightenment is prudent, and pays special attention to the reality. As a result, the practice of Scots reading "progress" in the process of social development is more laudable than the French.Beneath the veneer of opulence and refinement, there are lots of undercurrents in Britain in the 18 century. The contradiction between economic prosperity and moral decay becomes even more acute that a little carelessness could make the nation from stability to chaos. In order to clear the confusion, Scottish Enlightenment thinkers make great efforts to deeply investigate social crisis under the guidance of the theory of historical progress. Slavery, as an issue which runs counter to civilization, obviously incurs a public censure, initiating a century’s dispute.Among numbers of Scottish Enlightenment scholars who are against slavery, Smith and Millar are the most remarkable. What distinguishes them from the rest is that they all surpass pure philosophical speculations, integrating much historical reflections into their ideologies. Not only do they analyze the methods to acquire slaves in terms of captives, criminals and indigent citizens, but illustrate slaves’poor living conditions on the sides of their loss of rights and miserable lives.Based on the macro control of the history of slavery, Smith criticizes this institution’s economic inefficiency. He creatively uses "the increasing input costs" and "the decreasing output profits" to demonstrate the great harm of slavery economy. This point is also taken up by Millar who further states the immorality of slavery on grounds of the infringement of liberty rights and the corrosion of national virtues.Although the corrupt slavery is nasty, Smith still feels helpless considering its prevail all over the world. His cognition of the particularity of western European society and understanding of self-interest in human nature lead to a conclusion that "slavery could be abolished only in a few parts of modern Europe". By comparison, Millar’s arguments which are influenced by Smith profoundly change from pessimism to optimism. Owing to the revision of Smith’s pessimism, a firm freedom faith and rich political experience, Millar forms an optimistic view about the prospect of slavery’s eradication. Actually, their different responses regarding the possibility of ending slavery reflect the whole British society’s distrinct attitudes including the Scottish Enlightenment School.The combination of the Enlightenment thinkers’anti-slavery thoughts and the British Anti-Slavery Movement ultimately contribute to the pass of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. History turns out to have made a decision on Smith or Millar’s opinions.