Elements of Criticism
Description
Despite receiving little formal education, Henry Home became a leading intellectual of the Scottish Enlightenment and successful businessman. In his Elements of Criticism, he lays the foundation for the modern academic discipline of English literature with his captivating argument that the arts have a function in the moral and intellectual development of humanity.
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Person
Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782) was a Scottish judge, philosopher, and agriculturalist. Born at Kames House in Berwickshire, Home was educated by a private tutor until the age of 16. In 1712, he was apprenticed to a lawyer in Edinburgh. Called to the Scottish bar in 1724, he gained a reputation as a legal scholar and leading philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment. In addition to his legal work, for which he was named Lord Kames in 1752, Home was involved with the manufacture of linen in Scotland as a prominent shareholder and director of the British Linen Company. Much of his writing is focused on property and the historical development of human society, making him an important early figure in anthropology and sociology. His book Elements of Criticism (1762) has been designated a landmark text in the development of the academic discipline of English literature. Home was a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh and a patron to David Hume, Adam Smith, and James Boswell.
