Editing Dugald Stewart (section)

==Early life==
He was the son of [[Matthew Stewart (mathematician)|Matthew Stewart]] (1715–1785), professor of mathematics at the [[University of Edinburgh]] (1747–1772), and was born in his father's quarters at [[Old College, University of Edinburgh|Old College]]. His mother was Marjory Stewart, his father's cousin.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

He was educated at the [[Royal High School (Edinburgh)|High School]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]], where he studied mathematics and [[moral philosophy]] under [[Adam Ferguson]]. In 1771, in the hope of gaining a [[Snell Exhibition]] Scholarship and proceeding to [[university of Oxford|Oxford]] to study for the English Church, he went to the [[University of Glasgow]] to attend the classes of [[Thomas Reid]]. To Reid he later owed his theory of [[morality]]. In [[Glasgow]], Stewart boarded in the same house as [[Archibald Alison (author)|Archibald Alison]], author of the ''Essay on Taste'', and a lasting friendship sprang up between them.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Stewart, Dugald|volume=25|pages=913-914}}</ref>

After a single session in [[Glasgow University]], at the age of nineteen, Dugald was asked by his father, whose health was beginning to fail, to give his mathematical classes in the University of Edinburgh. After three years there, in 1775, Dugald was elected joint professor of mathematics in conjunction with his father. Three years later Ferguson was appointed secretary to the commissioners sent out to the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]], and at his request Stewart lectured as his substitute during the session 1778–1779, delivering an original course of lectures on morals.<ref name="EB1911"/> In his early years he was influenced by [[Lord Monboddo]], with whom he corresponded.