Institute of Intellectual History

Latest News and New Content
The 2nd M. A. Stewart Workshop in Scottish Intellectual History
The 2nd M. A. Stewart Workshop in Scottish Intellectual History

Celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the Publication of
Francis Hutcheson’s An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue

23-24 October 2025.

New Podcast: Roots and Branches
New Podcast: Roots and Branches

Roots and Branches explores the interface between theory and practice in the History of Ideas. Combining insights into the latest publications, ongoing research and the newest developments in the field with case studies of how practicioners resort to history to create societal change, the podcast explores the many ways in which the History of Ideas affects our world today.

2023 István Hont Book Prize
2023 István Hont Book Prize

We are pleased to announce that the 2023 István Hont Book Prize has been awarded to Eva Piirimäe for Herder and Enlightenment Politics (CUP).

Dugald Stewart in the 21st Century
Dugald Stewart in the 21st Century

The first M. A. Stewart Workshop in Scottish Intellectual History.
In honour of Knud Haakonssen.
24-25 October 2024.

New Podcast: Zeitgeist und Geschichte
New Podcast: Zeitgeist und Geschichte

Join us on this St. Andrews podcast as we interview academics and researchers of German Intellectual History with an eye to reflecting on the integral influence German thinkers have had on our intellectual landscape.

Call for Papers for Genealogies of Corporate Morality workshop
Call for Papers for Genealogies of Corporate Morality workshop

The workshop will take place 25th - 27th June 2025 at St Andrews Business School, Scotland, UK.

Deadline for abstracts (300-500 words): 1st November 2024.

Latest News

Events
Avi Lifschitz (Oxford) - “Holding the Monarch to Account: Frederick the Great’s Writings in the Public Sphere”
Oct 15
Avi Lifschitz (Oxford) - “Holding the Monarch to Account: Frederick the Great’s Writings in the Public Sphere”
Niall O’Flaherty (King’s College London) - “Malthus and the Global Turn”
Nov 19
Niall O’Flaherty (King’s College London) - “Malthus and the Global Turn”
Alison Bashford (Sydney) - “Depopulation and Repopulation: Settler Colonialism and Political Economy in the Early 19th Century” 
Nov 26
Alison Bashford (Sydney) - “Depopulation and Repopulation: Settler Colonialism and Political Economy in the Early 19th Century” 

Upcoming Events

Latest News and New Content
Interview with Dagmar Herzog
Interview with Dagmar Herzog

The dark history of eugenic thought in Germany from the nineteenth century to today―and the courageous counter-voices.

Interview with Elad Carmel
Interview with Elad Carmel

Robin Mills speaks with Elad Carmel about his new book Anticlerical Legacies - The deistic reception of Thomas Hobbes, c. 1670–1740

Interview with Isaac Nakhimovsky
Interview with Isaac Nakhimovsky

In this episode, Seungeun Lee speaks with Isaac Nakhimovsky about his new book The Holy Alliance: Liberalism and the Politics of Federation (Princeton, 2024).

Interview with Mark Garnett
Interview with Mark Garnett

In this wide-ranging conversation, Mark Garnett discusses how so often what the Conservative Party’s ideology is taken being the same thing as conservative political thought. But for most of its history, the Conservative Party has been anything other than conservative.

The Precarious Happiness of Theodor Adorno, with Peter Gordon
The Precarious Happiness of Theodor Adorno, with Peter Gordon

In this episode of Zeitgeist und Geschichte, we interview Professor Peter Gordon about his new book A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity (CUP, 2023).

Interview with Aurelian Craiutu
Interview with Aurelian Craiutu

Richard Whatmore speaks with Aurelian Craiutu about his new book Why Not Moderation? Letters to Young Radicals (CUP, 2023).

Latest Content

Past Events

Zeitgeist und Geschichte

Events outside
Book launch and Reception: Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan, Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History 1750 - 1820.
Book launch and Reception: Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan, Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History 1750 - 1820.

University of Edinburgh. 29 October, 4.45 - 6 pm.

What is the West?
What is the West?

Are the Western values that we have become accustomed to undergoing a fundamentalchange? Is this change permanent?

Antony Black - University of Dundee - Thu, 17 Apr 2025: 10:00 - 12:00

Socialist Ideas of Europe in the World 1871-1968
Socialist Ideas of Europe in the World 1871-1968

June 14th, 2024. LSE.
CfP: March 31.

John Pocock’s Life, Legacy, and Languages of Historical and Political Thought
John Pocock’s Life, Legacy, and Languages of Historical and Political Thought

Johns Hopkins University

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Call for Papers 2024: Utopias and Dystopias in the History of Political Thought 
Call for Papers 2024: Utopias and Dystopias in the History of Political Thought 

15th Annual London Graduate Conference in the History of Political Thought. CfP: 3rd February 2024

Call for papers: “Human rights in eighteenth-century global and colonial contexts: Scandinavia and beyond” 
Call for papers: “Human rights in eighteenth-century global and colonial contexts: Scandinavia and beyond” 

Department of History, Lund University
11th-12th June 2024.
CfP: 7th March 2024.

The Venice World Multidisciplinary Conference on Republics and Republicanism
The Venice World Multidisciplinary Conference on Republics and Republicanism

VIU will hold the fourth edition of the Venice Word Multidisciplinary Conference on Republics and Republicanism on May 24-26, 2024.

CfP: December 15, 2023.

Intellectual Histories of the American Revolution
Intellectual Histories of the American Revolution

Kylemore Abbey, Ireland, 15-17 August 2024.
CfP: 15 November 2023.

Strangers and Foreigners: Hospitality and Hostility in Britain, France, and Germany, 1680-1850
Strangers and Foreigners: Hospitality and Hostility in Britain, France, and Germany, 1680-1850

Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Bordeaux, France, 3-5 April 2024

Events outside of St Andrews