Originally published in 1742 and presented here in itsfirst modern edition, Observations uponLiberal Education is a significant contribution to theScottish Enlightenment and the moral-sense school ofScottish philosophy. George Turnbull embodied thesemovements of ideas as much as his more famouscontemporary Francis Hutcheson.In Observations, Turnbull applied these ideas tothe education of youth. He showed how a liberaleducation fosters true inward liberty and moralstrength and thus prepares for responsible and happylives in a free society. He drew upon an impressivenumber of authors, both ancient and modern, includingJohn Locke. Indeed, there is probably no richer treasuretrove of sources for the educational debates of theeighteenth century.Terrence Moore, who wrote the introduction, notesthat Observations upon Liberal Educationprovides an extensive and illuminating treatment ofeducation, sensitive to the means of inculcating thepersonal responsibility necessary for living in a freesociety.Turnbull was the mentor of Thomas Reid, but hisinfluence was not confined to Scotland. BenjaminFranklin, in drafting his Proposals Relating to theEducation of Youth in Pensilvania, drew generouslyfrom Observations.George Turnbull (16981748) belongs to the founding figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. Finding theirnative Calvinism repressive, they sought a rational religion closely associated with their newscience of human nature, supportive of tolerance, and compatible with classical ideals.Terrence O. Moore, Jr., isPrincipal of Ridgeview ClassicalSchools in Fort Collins, Colorado.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.