Major works
1 total work
Dugald Stewart (1753-1810) was professor of mathematics (1775-1785), then of moral philosophy (1785-1810) at the University of Edinburgh. Stewart was one of the great cultural intermediaries. The son of the Scottish Enlightenment, he taught many of the leading intellects of the early 19th century - Sir Walter Scott, James Mill, Sir James MacKintosh, the Edinburgh Reviewers and many foreign luminaries, such as Benjamin Constant. Reared on the mental philosophy of Thomas Reid, his eclectic mind accepted important elements of Adam Smith's historical outlook, and the combination allowed Stewart to have an important influence on methodology, ranging from the science of the mind to the study of language and political economy. Stewart's theory of the mind was part of perhaps the subtlest philosophical answer to both the French Revolution and its British critics. Stewart was among the first British philosophers to react to the new critical philosophy in Germany and much of his own thought was conducted in dialogue with the latest French ideas.
The works of Stewart came to be seen as a "Scottish School" and it was enormously influential both in France and in America for much of the 19th century. Sir William Hamilton's edition of Stewart's collected works is still the standard one and useful for studying both Stewart and the epoch of late Enlightenment, revolution and romanticism.
The works of Stewart came to be seen as a "Scottish School" and it was enormously influential both in France and in America for much of the 19th century. Sir William Hamilton's edition of Stewart's collected works is still the standard one and useful for studying both Stewart and the epoch of late Enlightenment, revolution and romanticism.