Politics, scholarship and dynastic history : the debate between Thomas Ruddiman and George Logan

Abstract

In the first half of the eighteenth century, the debate between Thomas Ruddiman (1674-1757), a Jacobite classical scholar, historian, political writer and publisher, and the Rev. George Logan (1678-1755), had political characteristics. These two people produced refutations of each other’s treatises. The major distinction in the political environment in the first half of the eighteenth century, which inevitably determined the course of the debate between Ruddiman and Logan, was that of Whigs and Tories. The purpose of this thesis is to go beyond this and evaluate the scholarship by contemporary standards. Also, in the study of these contemporary authors, we see the conflicts of eighteenth-century Scotland, which take centre stage in political narrative. Besides, we also inevitably note the similarities of their thought in response to the world around them.