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BAIN, ALEXANDER (1818-1903)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 222 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAIN, See also:ALEXANDER (1818-1903) , Scottish philosopher and educationalist, was See also:born on the 11th of See also:June 1818 in See also:Aberdeen, where he received his first schooling. In See also:early See also:life he was a See also:weaver, hence the punning description of him as Wee-See also:vie, rex philosophorum. In 1836 he entered Marischal See also:College, and came under the See also:influence of See also:John Cruickshank, See also:professor of See also:mathematics, See also:Thomas See also:Clark, professor of See also:chemistry, and See also:William See also:Knight, professor of natural See also:philosophy. His college career was distinguished, especially in See also:mental philosophy, mathematics and physics. Towards the end of his arts course he became a contributor to the See also:Westminster See also:Review (first See also:article " Electrotype and Daguerreotype," See also:September 1840). This was the beginning of his connexion with John See also:Stuart See also:Mill, which led to a life-See also:long friendship. In 1841 he became substitute for Dr Glennie, the professor of moral philosophy, who, through See also:ill-See also:health, was unable to See also:discharge the active duties of the See also:chair. This See also:post he occupied for three successive sessions, during which he continued See also:writing for the Westminster, and also in 1842 helped Mill with the revision of the MS. of his See also:System of See also:Logic. In 1843 he contributed the first review of the See also:book to the See also:London and Westminster. In 1845 he was appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the Andersonian University of See also:Glasgow. A See also:year later, "preferring a wider See also:field, he resigned the position and devoted himself to See also:literary See also:work. In 1848 he removed to London to fill a post in the See also:board of health, under See also:Edwin See also:Chadwick, and became a prominent member of the brilliant circle which included See also:George See also:Grote and John Stuart Mill.

In 1855 he published his first large work, The Senses and the See also:

Intellect, followed in 1859 by The Emotions and the Will. These See also:treatises won for him a position among See also:independent thinkers. He was examiner in logical and moral philosophy (1857-1862 and 1864-1869) to the university of London, and in moral See also:science in the See also:Indian See also:Civil Service See also:examinations. In 186o he was appointed by the See also:crown to the new chair of logic and See also:English in the university of Aberdeen (created on the amalgamation of the two colleges, See also:King's and Marischal, by the Scottish -See also:Universities See also:Commission of 1858). Up to this date neither logic nor English had received adequate See also:attention in Aberdeen, and Bain devoted himself to supplying these deficiencies. He succeeded not only in raising the See also:standard of See also:education generally in the See also:north of See also:Scotland, but also in forming a school of philosophy and in widely influencing the teaching of English See also:grammar and See also:composition. His efforts were first directed to the preparation of English textbooks: Higher English Grammar (1863), followed in 1866 by the See also:Manual of See also:Rhetoric, in 1872 by A First English Grammar, and in 1874 by the See also:Companion to the Higher Grammar. These See also:works covered a large field and their See also:original views and methods met with wide See also:acceptance. But the other subject of his chair also called for attention. His own philosophical writings already published, especially The Senses and the Intellect (to which was added, in 1861, The Study of See also:Character, including an Estimate of See also:Phrenology), were too large for effective use in the class-See also:room. Accordingly in 1868, he published his Manual of Mental and Moral Science, mainly a condensed See also:form of his treatises, with the doctrines re-stated, and in many instances freshly illustrated, and with many important additions. The year 1870 saw the publication of the Logic.

This, too, was a work designed for the use of students; it was based on J. S. Mill, but differed from him in many particulars, and had as distinctive features the treatment of the See also:

doctrine of the conservation of See also:energy in connexion with See also:causation and the detailed application of the principles of. logic to the various sciences. His services to education in Scotland were now recognized by the conferment of the honorary degree of See also:doctor of See also:laws by the university of See also:Edinburgh in 1871. Next came two publications in " The See also:International Scientific See also:Series," namely, Mind and See also:Body (1872), and Education as a Science (1879). All these works, from the Higher English Grammar down-wards, were written by Bain during his twenty years' professoriate at Aberdeen. To the same See also:period belongs his institution of the philosophical See also:journal Mind; the first number appeared in See also:January 1876, under the editorship of a former See also:pupil, G. Croom See also:Robertson, of University College, London. To this journal Bain contributed many important articles and discussions; and in fact he See also:bore the whole expenses of it till Robertson, owing to ill-health, resigned the editorship in 1891, when it passed into other hands. Bain resigned his professorship in 188o and was succeeded by William See also:Minto, one of his most brilliant pupils. Nevertheless his See also:interest in thought, and his See also:desire to See also:complete the See also:scheme of work mapped out in earlier years, remained as keen as ever. Accordingly, in 1882 appeared the See also:Biography of See also:James Mill, and accompanying it John Stuart Mill: a See also:Criticism, with See also:Personal Recollections.

Next came (1884) a collection of articles and papers, most of which had appeared in magazines, under the See also:

title of See also:Practical Essays. This was succeeded (1887, 1888) by a new edition of the Rhetoric, and along with it, a book On Teaching English, being an exhaustive application of the principles of rhetoric to the criticism of See also:style, for the use of teachers; and in 1894 he published a revised edition of The Senses and the Intellect, which contain, his last word on See also:psychology. In 1894 also appeared his last contribution to Mind. His last years were spent in privacy at Aberdeen, where he died on the 18th of September 1903. He married twice but See also:left no See also:children. Bain's life was mainly that of a thinker and a See also:man of letters. But he also took a keen interest and frequently an active See also:part in the See also:political and social movements of the See also:day; and so highly did the students of Aberdeen See also:rate his practical ability, that, after his retirement from the chair of logic, they twice in See also:succession elected him See also:lord See also:rector of the university, each See also:term of See also:office extending over three years. He was a strenuous See also:advocate of reform, especially in the teaching of sciences, and supported the claims of See also:modern }See also:languages to a See also:place in the curriculum. A See also:marble bust of him stands in the public library and his portrait hangs in the Marischal College. Wide as Bain's influence has been as a logician, a grammarianand a writer on rhetoric, his reputation rests on his psychology. At one with Johannes See also:Miller in the conviction psychologus memo nisi See also:physiologus, he was the first in See also:Great See also:Britain during the Igth See also:century to apply See also:physiology in a thoroughgoing See also:fashion to the elucidation of mental states. He was ` the originator of the theory of psycho-See also:physical See also:parallelism, which is used so widely as a working basis by modern psychologists.

His See also:

idea of applying the natural histbry method of See also:classification to psychical phenomena gave scientific character to his work, the value of which was enhanced by his methodical exposition and his command of See also:illustration. In See also:line with this, too, is his demand that psychology shall be cleared of See also:metaphysics; and to his See also:lead is no doubt due- in great measure the position that psychology has now acquired as a distinct See also:positive science. Prof. Wm. James calls his work the " last word " of the earlier See also:stage of psychology, but he was in reality the See also:pioneer of the new. Subsequent psycho-physical investigationshave all been in the spirit of his work; and although he consistently advocated the introspective method in psychological investigation, he was among the first to appreciate the help that may be given to it by See also:animal and social and See also:infant psychology. He may justly claim the merit of having guided the awakened psychological interest of See also:British thinkers of the second See also:half of the 19th century into fruitful channels. He emphasized the importance of our active experiences of See also:movement and effort, and though his theory of a central innervation sense is no longer held as he propounded it, its value as a See also:suggestion to later psychologists is great. His autobiography, published in 1904, contains a full See also:list of his works, and also the See also:history of the last thirteen years of his life by W. L. See also:Davidson of Aberdeen University, who further contributed to Mind (See also:April 1904) a review of Bain's services to philosophy. oWorks (beside the above) :—Edition with notes of See also:Paley's Moral Philosophy (1852) ; Education as a Science (1899) ; See also:Dissertations on leading philosophical topics (1903, mainly reprints of papers in Mind) ; he collaborated with J.

S. Mill and Grote in editing James Mill's See also:

Analysis f the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1869), and assisted in editing rote's See also:Aristotle and See also:Minor Works; he also wrote a memoir pre-fixed to G. Croom Robertson's Philosophical Remains (1894).

End of Article: BAIN, ALEXANDER (1818-1903)

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