The Speculative Society

The Speculative Society is a Scottish Enlightenment society dedicated to public speaking and literary composition. The Society is mainly, but not exclusively, a university 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, argument, and the presentation of papers among fellow members.

Organisations using the name The Speculative Society include:

• Edinburgh University, Edinburgh (formed in 1764), formerly for Law students;
• University of Southern California, mostly for Philosophy students;
• Harvard University, formerly, for Law students;

Influence

In the United Kingdom and especially Scotland, The Speculative Society has been said to have undue influence over the legal system, and be a secret society, 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
• Sir Walter Scott
• Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
• Lord Cullen
• William Shee
• John Playfair
• Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
• Francis Horner