The Puritan Mind in Transition: The Philosophy of Samuel Johnson

Abstract

N I752 an American colonist by the name of Samuel Johnson pubI lished a treatise on formal philosophy entitled Elementa Philosophica. Benjamin Franklin, who printed the book in Philadelphia, reported to Johnson that he had heard of no exceptions yet made to your great work, nor do I expect any, unless to those parts that savor of what is called Berkeleyanism, which is not well understood here.1 The tactful Franklin did not report that the book was selling quite slowly and that the lack of criticism was, in great part, due to the fact that no one was reading it. And since Elementa Philosophica was not only dedicated to George Berkeley, but also intended as an explication of philosophical tenets that were rooted in Berkeley's metaphysics, Franklin's comments indicated that those people who had bothered to purchase the book had either objected to or failed to comprehend the main thrust of its message. Historians of American philosophy have tended to agree with Johnson's contemporaries. It is conceded that Elementa Philosophica had a certain historical significance-it was the first textbook in philosophy published in America and became a part of the curriculum at the College in Philadelphia and later at King's College in New York. But the content of Elementa Philosophica has never been regarded as worthy of serious study. I. W. Riley saw fit to devote a chapter of his American Philosophy: The Early Schools to Johnson, whom he called the double of Berkeley. Riley went so far as to declare that Johnson's metaphysical system was the most clear and consistent presentation of idealism that had as yet appeared in the colonies; but Riley was neither clear nor consistent in his brief analysis of Johnson's philosophy. Herbert