The Speculative Society is a Scottish Enlightenment

Scottish Enlightenment

The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...

 society dedicated to public speaking and literary composition. The Society is mainly, but not exclusively, a university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 student organisation.

The formal purpose of the Society is met by acting as a venue for social interchange and for practising of professional competency in rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

, argument, and the presentation of papers among fellow members.

Organisations using the name The Speculative Society include:

• Edinburgh University, Edinburgh
  Edinburgh
  Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
  
   (formed in 1764), formerly for Law
  Law
  Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
  
   students;
• University of Southern California
  University of Southern California
  The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
  
  , mostly for Philosophy
  Philosophy
  Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
  
   students;
• Harvard University
  Harvard University
  Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
  
  , formerly, for Law students;

Influence

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and especially Scotland, The Speculative Society has been said to have undue influence over the legal system, and be a secret society

Secret society

A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...

, due to the prominence of its members. These claims, largely emanating from one source, have been discounted in a Judicial Enquiry by Lord Gill.

Past members of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh include:

• Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
  
  
• Sir Walter Scott
  Walter Scott
  Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
  
  
• Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
  Nicholas Fairbairn
  Sir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, QC was a British politician.He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Kinross and Western Perthshire, elected in 1974 and 1979, and Perth and Kinross, elected 1983, 1987, and 1992. He was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1979 to 1982...
  
  
• Lord Cullen
  William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk
  William Douglas Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk, is one of the senior members of the Scottish judiciary. He formerly served as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session, and was an additional Lord of Appeal in the House of Lords prior to the transfer of its judicial...
  
  
• William Shee
  William Shee
  Sir William Shee QS was an Anglo-Irish politician, lawyer and judge, the first Roman Catholic judge to sit in England and Wales since the Reformation.-Early life and legal career:...
  
  
• John Playfair
  John Playfair
  John Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Scottish scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth , which summarized the work of James Hutton...
  
  
• Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
  Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
  Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux was a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.As a young lawyer in Scotland Brougham helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, and was called to the English bar in...
  
  
• Francis Horner
  Francis Horner
  Francis Horner was a Scottish Whig MP for St. Ives in 1806, Wendover in 1807, and St. Mawes in 1812 ....
  
  
• William Douglas of Almorness
  William Douglas (d. 1821)
  William Douglas of Almorness was an advocate and a British Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.Probably born in New York in about 1784, he was the son of James Douglas of Orchardton and Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of William Douglas of Worcester. He was educated at Edinburgh High School...
  
  

External links

• Scots Law News - School of Law, University of Edinburgh
• Old College building and Playfair Library
• Speculative Society of Edinburgh - membership list 1947-2002
• The Speculative Society, University of Southern California