Lecture
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Tuesday 13.10.2026
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
The Scottish Enlightenment
Tuesday 13.10.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 13 October at 5:00pm (UK).
Summary
In the 18th-century, Scotland, a country traditionally known for economic difficulties and religious strictness, evolved into one of Europe’s leading centers of intellectual thought, leading Voltaire to famously say, “We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization.” Why did he say that?
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite teaches Chinese History, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, and sometimes Jewish history, at New York University. He is author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Harvard, 2005); The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, 2009); co-editor of Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Culture, and Politics (Brandeis, 2013); The Scaffolding of Sovereignty: Global and Aesthetic Perspectives on the History of a Concept (Columbia University Press, 2017); and Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History (Hawaii University Press, 2023).