Biography of Francis Hutcheson
Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University from 1730 until his death. He was one of the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment.
Born in Ulster, Hutcheson studied at the University and became a teacher in Dublin. He was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in 1729 and introduced the practice of lecturing in English rather than Latin. His publications, including An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue and the posthumously-published System of Moral Philosophy, had a profound influence on the development of moral philosophy in Scotland and America.