Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)

Francis Hutcheson (1694 to 1746) was an Irish philosopher widely regarded as one of the key figures of the early Scottish Enlightenment. Thought to have been born at Drumalig in County Down, he studied philosophy, classics and theology at the University of Glasgow and later served as Professor of Moral Philosophy there. He was a major advocate of moral sense theory, which holds that humans possess an innate sense that guides moral judgments, and he defended benevolence as the primary source of moral virtue, anticipating later utilitarian theories with his formulation of the greatest happiness for the greatest number. He also contributed to aesthetics, epistemology, logic and metaphysics and made an early argument for animal rights. His influence extended to later thinkers such as David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Reid.