Editing Dugald Stewart

{{Short description|Scottish philosopher and mathematician (1753–1828)}}
{{for multi|the Canadian politician|Dugald Stewart (Canadian politician)|the Vermont politician|Dugald Stewart (Vermont politician)|the Scottish law lord|Dugald Stewart, Lord Blairhall}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|honorific_prefix   = [[Professor]]
|name          = Dugald Stewart
|honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FRSE}}
|region = [[Western philosophy]]
|era    = [[18th-century philosophy]]
|image  = DugaldStewart.jpg
|caption = Dugald Stewart as painted by [[Henry Raeburn]], c. 1810.
|main_interests = [[Moral philosophy]]
|influenced =
|notable_ideas =
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1753|11|22}}
|birth_place = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1828|6|11|1753|11|22}}
|death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
|nationality = [[Scotland|Scottish]]
|alma_mater = [[University of Edinburgh]]
|movement   = [[Scottish Enlightenment]]
|school_tradition = [[Scottish Common Sense Realism]]
}}
'''Dugald Stewart''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dj|uː|g|əl|d}}; 22 November 1753{{snd}}11 June 1828) was a Scottish philosopher and mathematician. Today regarded as one of the most important figures of the later [[Scottish Enlightenment]], he was renowned as a populariser of the work of [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] and of [[Adam Smith]]. Trained in mathematics, medicine and philosophy,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eddy |first1=Matthew Daniel |title=The medium of signs: nominalism, language and the philosophy of mind in the early thought of Dugald Stewart |journal=Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science of Biological and Biomedical Sciences |date=2006 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=373–393 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2006.06.013 |pmid=16980184 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3426698}}</ref> his lectures at the [[University of Edinburgh]] were widely disseminated by his many influential students. In 1783 he was a joint founder of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. In most contemporary documents he is referred to as Prof '''Dougal Stewart'''.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directories 1800 to 1828 etc</ref>

==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.

==Professor at Edinburgh==
In 1785 Stewart succeeded Ferguson in the chair of [[moral philosophy]], which he filled for twenty-five years, making it a centre of intellectual and moral influence. Young men were attracted by his reputation from England, Europe and America. Greatly influenced by the Irish [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] who, in the preceding generation, had held the chair of moral philosophy at the [[University of Glasgow]], Stewart's course on moral philosophy embraced, besides ethics proper, lectures on [[political philosophy]] or the theory of government.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[William Drennan]], whose father [[Thomas Drennan]] had been secretary to Hutcheson, and who 1791 moved the formation of the [[Society of United Irishmen]] in [[Belfast]] and in [[Dublin]], was a student and friend.<ref> {{cite book | first = Ian | last = McBride | chapter = William Drennan and the Dissenting Tradition | editor-last=Dickson | editor-first=David | editor-last2=Keogh | editor-first2=Dáire | editor-last3=Whelan | editor-first3=Kevin | title=The United Irishmen : Republicanism, Radicalism, and Rebellion | publisher=The Lilliput Press | publication-place=Dublin, Ireland | date=1993 | isbn=1-874675-19-8 | oclc=29878617 | pages = 49–61}}</ref> It is from Stewart that Drennan is said to have "imbibed the classical tradition of republican theory, in its most famous English embodiment in the works of [[John Locke]], and its contemporary reincarnation in the works of [[Richard Price]] and [[Joseph Priestley]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnston |first1=Kenneth R. |title=Unusual Suspects: Pitt's Reign of Alarm and the Lost Generation of the 1790s |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199657803 |page=146}}</ref>

Stewart's dissident rationalism greatly influenced [[Maria Edgeworth]] and [[Elizabeth Hamilton (writer)|Elizabeth Hamilton]]. They drew extensively on his work in constructing educational programmes that rested on the assumption that women, and especially mothers, were intellectually capable of understanding the importance of the early association of ideas in the training of children's emotions and reasoning powers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Randall |first1=Jane |title='Elementary Principles of Education': Elizabeth Hamilton, Maria Edgeworth and the Uses of Common Sense Philosophy |journal=History of European Ideas |date=2013 |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=613–630 |doi=10.1080/01916599.2012.735136 |s2cid=144679770 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2012.735136 |access-date=7 November 2020}}</ref>

Stewart spent the summers of 1788 and 1789 in France, where he met [[Jean Baptiste Antoine Suard|Suard]], [[Degérando]], and [[Guillaume Thomas François Raynal|Raynal]], and came to sympathise with the revolutionary movement.<ref name="EB1911"/> His political teaching, after the [[French Revolution]], drew suspicion on him. His Edinburgh residence for several years was [[Whitefoord House]] on the [[Royal Mile]].<ref>Edinburgh and District: Ward Lock Travel Guide 1930</ref>

From 1800 to 1801, Stewart gave lectures to undergraduate students on the subject of [[political economy]], the first person to do so.<ref>[http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/economics/about-us/history/early-years The early years] at [[University of Edinburgh School of Economics]]'s official website. Accessed 24 February 2013.</ref> Stewart made himself the leading disciple of [[Adam Smith]] and, after Smith's death became his first biographer. In 1793 Stewart had read his ''Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith'' to the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]].

In 1797 he appears as "Dougald Stewart, professor of moral philosophy" living at Lothian House (aka Lothian Hutt) near the bottom of the [[Canongate]].<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1797</ref> Lothian Hutt was built in 1750 by William, Marquess of Lothian, who appears to have been a friend of Stewart. Stewart was still staying here in 1813.<ref>Edinburgh: Mapping the City by Christopher Fleet and Daniel MacCannell ISBN 978-1-78027-245-0</ref>

==Family==
In 1783 Stewart married Helen Bannatyne (a distant cousin),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Stewart.html|title = Matthew Stewart - Biography}}</ref> who died in 1787, leaving him an only son, [[Matthew Stewart (soldier)|Matthew Stewart]] [[FRSE]] (1784-1851). In 1790 he married [[Helen D'Arcy Cranstoun]], sister of [[George Cranstoun, Lord Corehouse|George Cranstoun]].  His second wife was well-born and accomplished, and he was in the habit of submitting to her criticism whatever he wrote. They had a son and a daughter. The son's death in 1809 brought about his retirement from the active duties of his chair.<ref name="EB1911"/>

His sister, Janet Stewart, married Rev Thomas Miller of [[Cumnock]], and they were parents to Dr Patrick Miller [[FRSE]] (1782-1871).<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf | title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002 Biographical Index Part Two | date=July 2006 | isbn=0-902198-84-X | publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh | access-date=5 September 2020 }}</ref>

==Later life==
[[File:DugaldStewartMonument.jpg|thumb|[[Dugald Stewart Monument]], Edinburgh]]
[[File:The tomb of Dugald Stewart, Canongate Kirkyard.jpg|thumb|The tomb of Dugald Stewart, Canongate Kirkyard]]
In 1806 Stewart received in lieu of a pension the nominal office of the writership of the ''Edinburgh Gazette'', with a salary of £300. When he ceased lecturing during the session of 1809–1810, his place was taken, at his own request, by [[Thomas Brown (philosopher)|Thomas Brown]], who in 1810 was appointed conjoint professor. On the death of Brown in 1820 Stewart retired altogether from the professorship. His successor was [[John Wilson (Scottish writer)|John Wilson]], known as "Christopher North".<ref name="EB1911"/>

From 1809 onwards Stewart lived mainly at [[Kinneil House]], Bo'ness, which was placed at his disposal by the [[Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton|Duke of Hamilton]].<ref name="EB1911"/> He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1791.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dugald Stewart|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Dugald+Stewart|access-date=16 December 2020|website=American Philosophical Society Member History|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]}}</ref> In June 1814 Stewart was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=3&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27stewart%27%29|title=Library and Archive Catalogue|publisher=Royal Society|access-date=22 October 2010|archive-date=26 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426140319/http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=3&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27stewart%27%29|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1817.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>

==Freemasonry==
Like his father, Rev Dr Matthew Stewart, he was a Scottish Freemason. He was Initiated in the Lodge of his father - Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2, on 4 December 1775.<ref>History of the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2, compiled from the records 1677-1888. By Alan MacKenzie. 1888. P.245.</ref>

His friend and fellow Freemason, Robert Burns, made him an honorary member of Lodge St David, Tarbolton, No. 133, on 25 July 1787. This was whilst Stewart was staying at the family seat at [[Catrine]], [[Ayrshire]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Weir | first=John | title=Robert Burns, the Freemason | publisher=Lewis Masonic | publication-place=Addlestone | date=1996 | isbn=0-85318-213-2 | oclc=37245413}}</ref>

==Death==

In 1822 he was struck with [[paralysis]], but recovered a fair degree of health, sufficient to enable him to resume his studies. He died in Edinburgh on 11 June 1828, where he was buried in [[Canongate Churchyard]], close to his Edinburgh residence. He is buried in an enclosed vault in the lower section, on its west side.

==Memorials==

In 1831, and of great public note, a [[Dugald Stewart Monument|monument]] was erected by the city on [[Calton Hill, Edinburgh|Calton Hill]].<ref name="EB1911"/> This is to a design by [[William Henry Playfair]] and holds a commanding position in the city skyline, forming one of the city's iconic landmarks.<ref>Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford, Mcwilliam and Walker</ref>

His memory is also honoured by the "Dugald Stewart Building" (erected 2011) for the [[University of Edinburgh]] to house its Philosophy Department, on Charles Street, off [[George Square, Edinburgh|George Square]].

==Works==
Stewart as a student in Glasgow wrote an essay on ''Dreaming''. In 1792 he published the first volume of the ''Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind''; the second volume appeared in 1814, the third not till 1827. In 1793 he printed a textbook, ''Outlines of Moral Philosophy'', which went through many editions; and in the same year he read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh his ''Account of the Life and Writings of [[Adam Smith]]''. Similar memoirs of [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]] the historian and of Reid were afterwards read before the same body and appear in his published works.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1805 Stewart published pamphlets defending [[John Leslie (physicist)|John Leslie]] against the charges of unorthodoxy made by the presbytery of Edinburgh. In 1810 appeared the ''Philosophical Essays'',<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Philosophical Essays'' by Dugald Stewart|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=October 1811|volume=6|pages=1–37|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c031993806;view=1up;seq=13}}</ref> in 1814 the second volume of the ''Elements'', in 1815 the first part and in 1821 the second part of the "Dissertation" written for the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Supplement'', entitled "A General View of the Progress of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy since the Revival of Letters." In 1827 he published the third volume of the ''Elements'', and in 1828, a few weeks before his death, ''The Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers''.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Stewart's works were edited in 11 vols. (1854–1858) by [[Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet|Sir William Hamilton]] and completed with a memoir by [[John Veitch (poet)|John Veitch]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Influence==
Among Stewart's pupils were [[Lord Palmerston]], [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]], [[Francis Jeffrey]], [[Henry Thomas Cockburn]], [[Francis Horner]], [[Sydney Smith]], [[John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|John William Ward]], [[Henry Peter Brougham|Lord Brougham]], [[Thomas Brown (philosopher)|Dr. Thomas Brown]], [[James Mill]], [[James Mackintosh|Sir James Mackintosh]] and [[Archibald Alison (author)|Sir Archibald Alison]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

His reputation rested as much on his eloquence, populism, and style as on original work.<ref name="scottishphilosophy.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.scottishphilosophy.org/dugaldstewart.html |title=Dugald Stewart 1753-1828, Scottish Philosopher |access-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008010442/http://www.scottishphilosophy.org/dugaldstewart.html |archive-date=8 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was principally responsible for making the "[[Scottish Common Sense Realism|Scottish philosophy]]" predominant in early 19th-century Europe.<ref name="scottishphilosophy.org"/> In the second half of the century, Stewart's reputation fell to that of a follower of the work of Thomas Reid.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Stewart upheld Reid's psychological method and expounded the [[Scottish Common Sense Realism]],<ref>''Selections from the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense'', ed. by G. A. Johnston (1915), essays by Thomas Reid, [[Adam Ferguson]], James Beattie, and Dugald Stewart ([http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2044&Itemid=28 online version]).</ref> which was attacked by [[James Mill]] and [[John Stuart Mill]]. Part of his originality lay in his incorporation of elements of moderate [[empiricism]] and the French ideologists [[Pierre Laromiguière|Laromiguière]], [[Pierre Jean George Cabanis|Cabanis]] and [[Antoine Destutt de Tracy|Destutt de Tracy]]. He opposed the argument of [[ontology]], and [[Étienne Bonnot de Condillac|Condillac]]'s [[sensationalism]]. [[Immanuel Kant]], he said, he could not understand.<ref>Jonathan Friday (2005): Dugald Stewart on Reid, Kant and the Refutation of Idealism, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 13:2, 263–286</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Corsi, Pietro. "The heritage of Dugald Stewart: Oxford philosophy and the method of political economy." ''Nuncius'' (1987) 2#2 pp: 89-144 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20141221102538/http://hsmt.history.ox.ac.uk/hsmt/courses_reading/undergraduate/victorian_britain/dugald_stewart.pdf online]).
* Haakonssen, Knud. "From moral philosophy to political economy: the contribution of Dugald Stewart." in ''Philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment'' (1984), pp.&nbsp;211–32.
* Rashid, Salim. "Dugald Stewart, 'Baconian' Methodology, and Political Economy." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' (1985): 245-257 ([https://www.jstor.org/stable/2709637 online on JSTOR]).
*Wood, Paul. "Dugald Stewart and the Invention of “the Scottish Enlightenment”." ''The Scottish Enlightenment: Essays in Reinterpretation'' (2000), pp.&nbsp;1–35.

===Primary sources===
* Stewart, Dugald, and John Veitch. ''The collected works of Dugald Stewart'' (1877) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=H3Y_AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Dugald+Stewart%22&pg=PA1 online]).

== External links ==
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Stewart_Dugald}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070416213044/http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Author.php?recordID=0409 Dugald Stewart] at [https://web.archive.org/web/20070608070935/http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/index.php ''The Online Library of Liberty'']
* [http://www.lck2.co.uk/ Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2]
* [https://www.grandlodgescotland.com/ Grand Lodge of Scotland]
* [http://www.masonicworld.com/education/articles/FREEMASONRY-AND-THE-LEADERS-OF-VICTORIAN-ENGLAND.htm Freemasonry and the Leaders of Victorian Britain]
{{Age of Enlightenment}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1753 births]]
[[Category:1828 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish philosophers]]
[[Category:Philosophers from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Burials at the Canongate Kirkyard]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophers]]
[[Category:Age of Enlightenment]]
[[Category:People of the Scottish Enlightenment]]
[[Category:Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Historians of Scotland]]
[[Category:Members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Scottish Freemasons]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Political philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish mathematicians]]
[[Category:People from Catrine]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]