Simon Evans presents: Footnotes to Smith

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Comedy (spoken word, historical)

  • Accessibility: May not apply to all performances. You'll find more information about accessibile performances and how to book tickets in the accessibility tab below.
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Description

Alfred North Whitehead characterised the European philosophical tradition as 'a series of footnotes to Plato'. We beg to differ. Influential as the Big Beards were, the modern world began with Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment. Join Fringe stalwart, BBC Radio 4 regular, creator of Jokenomics and Economedy and general intellectual magpie and dilettante Simon Evans for a brisk canter through the 250-year legacy of The Sage of Kirkcaldy. May contain visible hands. Praise for past work: 'A masterclass' ***** (Scotsman); 'Jaw dropping' ****½ (Chortle.co.uk).

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Richard Collier 98 days ago

Excellent. Erudite, well researched, fascinating and fun. Fans of Mr. Evans will get exactly what they’re expecting. It’s more of a straight lecture than an audience-participation piece (you’d have to be a pretty robust historian of philosophy to heckle this set) but you will definitely learn a lot and come away with some additions to your reading list.

It was particularly cool that he was able to shoot a through-line all the way from Plato and Aristotle to the Scottish Enlightenment and then onto modern day philosophers. You’d expect Kant, Schopenhauer and AJ Ayer, Ricardo, Malthus and Keynes, but Rene Girard?

If you want something to get the grey matter going between stand up sets, I definitely recommend this scholarly but good humoured hour. Also, delivering it in Panmure House, Adam Smith’s own residence, lovingly renovated by Heriot Watt University, makes it a unique experience.

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