Thomas Blackwell the younger
| Thomas Blackwell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 August 1701 Aberdeen |
| Died | 6 March 1757 (aged 55) Edinburgh |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Institutions | Marischal College |
| Alma mater | Marischal College |
| Influences | Shaftesbury |
| Influenced | Herder |
| Spouse | Barbara Black |
Thomas Blackwell the younger (4 August 1701 – 6 March 1757) was a classical scholar, historian and "one of the major figures in the Scottish Enlightenment."
He was born on 4 August 1701 in the city of Aberdeen, son of Rev. Thomas Blackwell (?1660–1728), one of the ministers of Aberdeen. He attended the Grammar School of his native place and studied Greek and philosophy at Marischal College, graduating M.A. in 1718. He was presented to the chair of Greek at Marischal in 1723, becoming the college's principal on 7 October 1748. Blackwell was a well regarded professor and taught a number of important Enlightenment figures including Principal George Campbell, Robert Chambers, Alexander Gerard, and James Beattie, He strongly influenced James Macpherson, the godfather as it were of Ossian, Lord Monboddo and Adam Ferguson.
In May 1751, he married Barbara Black, third daughter of James Black, Dean of Guild of Aberdeen, and his wife Agnes Fordyce, daughter of Provost George Fordyce. They had no children. Thomas Blackwell died of a consumptive illness in Edinburgh on 6 March 1757. His remains were buried in Greyfriars Churchyard.
Blackwell's works, including An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer (1735),Letters Concerning Mythology (1748), and Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (3 vols., 1753–63), established him as one of the premier figures in the Scottish Enlightenment.
In the Enquiry Blackwell considered why Homer was supreme as an epic poet and concluded that this was owing almost entirely to natural forces. Homer was the outcome of a specific society and natural environment, which combined to shape the inherited culture and produce a setting highly favourable to epic poetry. Blackwell’s idea that, instead of being innate as hitherto supposed, culture was learned and continually changing, was to become one of the basic assumptions of modern cultural anthropology.
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