What is the relationship (if any) between Great-Britain classical liberalism and the Renaissance?
By Great-Britain classical liberalism I am referring to authors such as Adam Smith, John Locke, David Hume, Adam Ferguson, etc.
They enhanced the emphasis on the individual over the group which, to me, started in Europe with the Renaissance writers (Petrarch, Mirandola, Montaigne, etc.).
Yet, the only relation I know between the Continent and GB classical liberals is the influence the French physiocrats had on Adam Smith. That's pretty it.
Or were they influenced by the (more German) Reformation, i.e. by the ideas or Protestantism (see the work of Deirdre McCloskey)?
