Scottish Philosophy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ed. by Gordon Graham

Abstract

Reviewed by: Scottish Philosophy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ed. by Gordon Graham David Fergusson Gordon Graham, editor. Scottish Philosophy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp xii + 340. Cloth, $99.00. The latest volume in the OUP History of Philosophy series comprises twelve essays, which provide in-depth study of a selection of philosophers who worked in the four ancient Scottish universities after 1800. Particular attention is dedicated to Thomas Brown, William Hamilton, James Frederick Ferrier, Alexander Bain, George Davie, and John Macmurray. Further chapters are devoted to the Scottish interpretation of Kant, idealism, and the international exporting of Scottish philosophy, especially its reception in American pragmatism. Introductory and concluding essays by the editor consider the distinctiveness of Scottish philosophy and the contested ways in which it can be judged a coherent intellectual tradition. Does Scottish philosophy refer to anything more than the philosophical work conducted in Scotland during the period under scrutiny? The collection suggests an affirmative answer, at least until the early twentieth century, although the description of such a tradition and its key exponents has been contested. A narrower and a broader characterization can be discerned. The first is the limitation of “Scottish philosophy” to the common sense realism of Reid and his followers such as Oswald and Beattie. Thus identified, the tradition might include Dugald Stewart, William Hamilton, and later thinkers such as John Veitch in Glasgow, Robert Flint in Edinburgh, and William Davidson in Aberdeen. The essays in this volume suggest that such a roll call is unduly narrow and partisan, though “Scottish philosophy” thus characterized has had some distinguished advocates in nineteenth-century France and the U.S. But excluding other Enlightenment thinkers, especially Hume, who were fully committed to a “science of human nature”—as well as later figures such as Brown, Ferrier and Bain, who wrestled with the problems and questions generated by their eighteenth-century predecessors even while advancing different approaches and conclusions—such narrowing of Scottish philosophy to the school of Reid is unduly restrictive. In relation to the topics of philosophical enquiry pursued in the “Scottish Enlightenment” (a term that emerged much later than “Scottish philosophy”), Gordon Graham suggests that Hume is quintessentially Scottish by virtue of the range of his writings, which is much broader than that of Reid. Moreover, the divide between Hume and Reid has not always seemed so wide, as Brown’s aphorism reveals. “Reid bawled out that we must believe in an outward world; but added in a whisper, we can give no reason for our belief. Hume cries out that we can give no reason for such a notion; and whispers, I own we cannot get rid of it” (36). [End Page 174] If a commitment to a unified science of human nature is the originating trait of the tradition, then it is capable of displaying much greater breadth, especially when combined with those who exhibited idealist leanings in reaction to their predecessors. And more mediating figures along the way, such as Alexander Campbell Fraser, A. S. Pringle Pattison, and Norman Kemp Smith, can also be placed on this trajectory of philosophical enquiry, even though they may have departed from Reid’s realism and Hume’s skeptical naturalism without ever fully subscribing to the claims of absolute idealism. What emerges in this collection is a broad and rich conception of the Scottish philosophical tradition, yet one that exhibits some characteristic features. These include the commitment to a science of human nature, an intense discussion in conversation with German philosophy of the problems addressed by Reid and others, and a conviction regarding the wider importance of philosophy for the universities and their host society—on this last point, George Davie’s celebrated lament for the democratic intellect is subject to some searching criticism by Lindsay Paterson. What also emerges is confirmation of the ways in which Scottish thinkers were capable of engaging with continental Europe, often leading the way with commentaries and English translations of Kant and Hegel. These essays are of a uniformly high standard; each will repay study for those wishing to familiarize themselves with the leading Scottish philosophers of the period. Representing much fresh...