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STEWART, DUGALD (1753-1828)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 914 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STEWART, DUGALD (1753-1828) , Scottish philosopher, was See also:born in See also:Edinburgh on the 22nd of See also:November 1753. His See also:father, See also:Matthew Stewart (171 1785), was See also:professor of See also:mathematics in the university of Edinburgh (1747–1772). Dugald Stewart waseducated in Edinburgh at the high school and the university, where he read mathematics and moral See also:philosophy under See also:Adam See also:Ferguson. In 1771, in the See also:hope of gaining a See also:Snell See also:exhibition and proceeding to See also:Oxford to study for the See also:English See also:Church, he went to See also:Glasgow, where he attended the classes of See also:Thomas See also:Reid. While he owed to Reid all his theory of morality, he repaid the See also:debt by giving to Reid's views the See also:advantage of his admirable See also:style and See also:academic eloquence. In Glasgow Stewart boarded in the same See also:house with See also:Archibald See also:Alison, author of the See also:Essay on See also:Taste, and a lasting friendship sprang up between them. After a single session in Glasgow, Dugald Stewart, at the See also:age of nineteen, was summoned by his father, whose See also:health was beginning to fail, to conduct the mathematical classes in the university of Edinburgh. After acting three years as his father's substitute he was elected professor of mathematics in See also:conjunction with him in 1775. Three years later Adam Ferguson was appointed secretary to the commissioners sent out to the See also:American colonies, and at his urgent See also:request Stewart lectured as his substitute. Thus during the session 1778–1779, in addition to his mathematical See also:work, he delivered an See also:original course of lectures on morals. In 1783 he married See also:Helen See also:Bannatyne, who died in 1787, leaving an only son, See also:Colonel Matthew Stewart. In 1785 he succeeded Ferguson in the See also:chair of moral philosophy, which he filled for a See also:quarter of a See also:century and made a centre of intellectual and moral See also:influence.

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Young men were attracted by his reputation from See also:England, and even from the See also:Continent and See also:America. Among his pupils were See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, See also:Jeffrey, See also:Cockburn, See also:Francis See also:Horner, See also:Sydney See also:Smith, See also:Lord See also:Brougham, Dr Thomas See also:Brown, See also:James See also:Mill, Sir James See also:Mackintosh and Sir Archibald Alison. The course on moral philosophy embraced, besides See also:ethics.proper, lectures on See also:political philosophy or the theory of See also:government, and from 1800 onwards a See also:separate course of lectures was delivered on political See also:economy, then almost unknown as a See also:science to the See also:general public. Stewart's enlightened political teaching was sufficient, in the times of reaction succeeding the See also:French Revolution, to draw upon him the undeserved suspicion of disaffection to the constitution. The summers of 1788 and 1789 he spent in See also:France, where he met Suard, Degerando, See also:Raynal, and learned to sympathize with the revolutionary See also:movement. In 1790 Stewart married a second See also:time. See also:Miss Cranstoun, who became his wife, was a See also:lady of See also:birth and accomplishments, and he was in the See also:habit of submitting to her See also:criticism whatever he wrote. A son and a daughter were the issue of this See also:marriage. The See also:death of the former in 1809 was a severe See also:blow to his father, and was the immediate cause of his retirement from the active duties of his chair. Before that, however, Stewart had not been idle as an author. As a student in Glasgow he wrote an essay on Dreaming. In 1792 he published the first See also:volume of the Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind; the second volume appeared in 1814, and the third not till 1827.

In 1793 he printed a textbook, Outlines of Moral Philosophy, which went through many See also:

editions; and in the same See also:year he read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh his See also:account of the See also:Life and Writings of Adam Smith. Similar See also:memoirs of See also:Robertson the historian and of Reid were afterwards read before the same See also:body and appear in his published See also:works. In 18o5 Stewart published See also:pamphlets defending Mr (afterwards Sir See also:John) See also:Leslie against the charges of unorthodoxy made by the See also:presbytery of Edinburgh. In 1806 he received in lieu of a See also:pension the nominal See also:office of the writership of the Edinburgh See also:Gazette, with a See also:salary of £300. When the See also:shock of his son's death incapacitated him from lecturing during the session of 1809–1810, his See also:place was taken, at his own request, by Dr Thomas Brown, who in 1810 was appointed conjoint professor. On the death of Brown in 1820 Stewart retired altogether from the professorship, which was conferred upon John See also:Wilson, better known as " See also:Christopher See also:North." From 1809 onwards Stewart lived mainly at Kinneil House, See also:Linlithgowshire, which was placed at his disposal by the See also:duke of See also:Hamilton. In 18ro appeared the Philosophical Essays, in 1814 the second volume of the Elements, in 1815 the first See also:part and in 1821 the second part of the " Dissertation " written for the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica " Supplement," entitled " A General View of the Progress of Metaphysical, ' the See also:historical See also:interest of having preceded Sir John See also:Harington's See also:translation (1591). The volume containing this version and other poems (of indifferent quality) is preserved in the See also:Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. It bears the See also:title Ane Abbregement of See also:Roland Fvriovs, translait ovt of Aroist: togither vith sym Rapsodies of the Avthor's yovthfvll braine, and last ane Schersing ovt of trew Felicitie; composit in See also:Scotia meiter be J. Stewart of Baldynneis. . This MS. appears to be the original which was once in the See also:possession of James VI. Extracts are printed in See also:Irving's See also:History of Scotish See also:Poetry (1861).

End of Article: STEWART, DUGALD (1753-1828)

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