The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment offers aphilosophical perspective on an eighteenth-century movement thathas been profoundly influential on western culture. A distinguishedteam of contributors examines the writings of David Hume, AdamSmith, Thomas Reid, Adam Ferguson, Colin Maclaurin and otherScottish thinkers, in fields including philosophy, naturaltheology, economics, anthropology, natural science and law. Inaddition, the contributors relate the Scottish Enlightenment to itshistorical context and assess its impact and legacy in Europe,America and beyond. The result is a comprehensive and accessiblevolume that illuminates the richness, the intellectual variety andthe underlying unity of this important movement. It will be ofinterest to a wide range of readers in philosophy, theology,literature and the history of ideas.

Marriage choice plays a crucial role in the formation and decayof social classes. Endogamy, the custom forbidding marriage outsideone's social class, is thus central to social history. The studyconsiders the factors determining who married whom, whether partnerselection has changed over time and regional differences betweenEurope and South America. The volume also questions to what extentthese factors have changed over the past three hundred years. Thecase studies presented are preceded by a state-of-the-arttheoretical introduction on the determinants influencing trends insocial endogamy. Each contributor has employed the samesocial-class scheme and thus the volume is the first comparativestudy of social endogamy in an historical context.