tics; admitting the principle of a Moral Sense. He was the author also of some elegant treatises on Esthetics.

Lastly, James Oswald (flourished about 1769), a Scotch ecclesiastic, exalted the principal of Common Sense1 into the supreme canon of all truth, and the ultimate rule in all inquiries.

These authors have demonstrated the mischievousness of speculation when it would reduce all our convictions to demonstration; but have not avoided a contrary fault, that of making the Reason inert and passive.

377. The celebrated natural philosopher, Joseph Priestley, criticised at the same time both Hume and his antagonists. He may be said to have been more successful with the latter, whose instinctive principles he justly styled qualitates occulta. In opposition to Hume he alleged a proof of the existence of the Divinity, which was untenable. He was a rank Determinist; and, consistently with his principles, controverted, as Hartley had done, the doctrine of freeagency, and endeavoured to establish a system of materiality of the soul. Next came Edward Search (his real name was

1 JAMES OSWALD, Appeal to Common Sense in Behalf of Religion, Edinb. 1766-1772, 2 vols. 8vo.

2 Born at Fieldhead, 1733; died 1804.

3 Jos. PRIESTLEY, An Examination of Dr. Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind; Dr. Beattie's Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth; and Dr. Oswald's Appeal to the Common Sense, Lond. 1774, 8vo. Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever, containing an Examination of the Principal Objections to the Doctrines of Natural Religion, and especially those contained in the writings of Mr. Hume, Bath, 1780, Part I, II. Additional Letters, 1781-87; and: A Continuation of the Letters, Northumberland-town (U. S.) 1794, 8vo.

The Life of Jos. Priestly, with Critical Observations on his Works, and Extracts from his Writings illustrative of his Character, Principles, etc., by J. CARRY, Lond. 1804, 8vo.

4 Jos. PRIESTLEY, Disquitions Relating to Matter and Spirit, etc. Lond. 1777, 8vo.

Three Dissertations on the Doctrine of Materialism and Philosophical Necessity, Lond. 1778, 8vo.

The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity illustrated, etc., Lond. 1777, 8vo.

Letters on Materialism and Hartley's Theory of the Human Mind, by PRIESTLEY, Lond. 1776, 8vo. The last called forth answers from PALMER and BRYANT; and more particularly the work of RICHARD PRICE, entitled: Letters on Materialism, and Philosophical Necessity, Lond. 1778, 8vo.

Abraham Tucker1), who, in questions of Morals, referred everything to personal expediency. On the other hand, Richard Price, in opposition to Empiricism, which would derive all our cognitions from Sensation, maintained that the Understanding or the faculty of thought is essentially distinct from the sensual system, and the source of peculiar representations not to be confounded with those which originate in the senses. He investigated with acuteness and ability many important questions relative to Morals, and controverted the doctrine of a Moral Sense, as irreconcileable war the unalterable character of fundamental moral conce ohs, which, as well as those of Substance and Cause, he maintained to be eternal and original principles of the intellect itself, independent of the Divine Will. He has admirably illustrated the differences existing between Morality and Sensation, Virtue and Happiness; at the same time that he points out the intimate connection existing between the two last.3 On the other hand the theory of a moral sense found a defender in Henry Home, distinguished for his critical works on Esthetics; and in Adam Ferguson,

Auszüge aus DR. PRIESTLEY'S Schriften über die Nothwendigkeit des Willens, und über die Vibrationem der Gehirnnerven, als die materiellen Ursachen des Empfindens und Denkens, nebst Betrachtungen über diese Gegenstände und einer Vergleichung der Vibrationshypothese, mit Hrn. DR. GALL'S Schädellehre. Altona, 1806, 8vo.

1 ED. SEARCH, Light of Nature pursued, 7 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1768-78. New edition, with Life, by SIR JOHN MILDMAY, 7 vols. 8vo. 1805. Reprinted in 2 vols. 8vo. Bohn, 1848. Abridged by WM. HAZLitt, 8vo. 1807. Free-will, Fore-knowledge, and Fate, Lond. 1763, 8vo. 2 Born at Tynton, 1723; died 1791.

3 PRICE, Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals, particularly those respecting the Origin of our Ideas of Virtue, its Nature, Relation to the Deity, Obligation, Subject-Matter, and Sanctions, Lond. 1758, 8vo.; third edition, Lond. 1787, 8vo.

4 Born at Edinburgh: became Lord KAIMES in 1752; died 1782. HENRY HOME, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, Edinb. 1751, 8vo. Historical Law, 1759, 8vo. The Principles of Equity, 1760, fol. Elements of Criticism, Lond. 1762, 3 vols. 8vo.; third edition, Edinb. 1765, 3 vols. 8vo. Sketches on the History of Man, Lond. 1774, 2 vols. 4to. The two latter works have been frequently reprinted.

5 Born in the Highlands of Scotland, 1724; died 1816.

AD. FERGUSON, Institutes of Moral Philosophy, Lond. 1769, 8vo. Principles of Moral and Political Science, Edinb. 1793, 2 vols. 4to. Essay on Civil Society, Edinb. 1766, 4to.

who made virtue consist in the progressive developement of the powers of the soul in its advance towards spiritual perfection. Adam Smith, a friend of Hume's, and principally celebrated for his classical work on the Wealth of Nations, the text book of Political Science, maintained that Morality can only consist in actions which are of a sort to merit universal approbation; and consequently made Sympathy the principle of Morality. By means of this faculty we put ourselves in the situation of the agent whose conduct we are considering, and then pass an impartial sentence, uninfluenced by subjective considerations, on the propriety or impropriety of his conduct. From such judgments, repeatedly formed, are deduced, according to Smith, general rules for our own conduct. The sum of his morality is this: So act that other men may sympathise with you."

Thomas Payne, one of the founders of the independence of the United States, astonished even the English by his ultra-democratic principles and views.

In connection with the metaphysical labours of the British writers, we ought to mention Essays on the principles of Taste by Alison, Gerard, and Burke; as well as their inquiries on Language, and the History of Mankind. Sir William Jones distinguished himself greatly in this province.3

II. French Empirical School.

+ History of the French Revolution; or the Commencement, Progress, and Effects of the (so-called) New Philosophy of that country, III Parts, Leips. 1827-28, 8vo.

1 Born at Kirkaldy 1723; died 1790.

AD. SMITH, Theory of Moral Sentiments, sixth edition, Lond. 1790, 2 vols. 8vo., frequently reprinted in 1 vol. Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Lond. 1776; second edition, 1777, 2 vols. 4to.; edited by W. PLAYFAIR, 3 vols. 8vo. 1805; edited by D. BUCHANAN, 4 vols. 8vo. Edinb. 1814; edited by MCCULLOCH, 4 vols. 8vo. Edin. 1828; reprinted in 1 vol. 1838. Essays on Philosophical Subjects, etc., to which is prefixed an account of the life and writings of the author, by DUGALD STEWART, Lond. 1795, 8vo.

2 Born in Norfolk, 1737; died in America, 1809.

Common Sense, Philadelphia, 1776, 8vo. Rights of Man: being an Answer to Mr. Burke's attack on the French Revolution, parts I, II, seventh edition, 1791-92. The Age of Reason, being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, parts I, II, Lond. 1794.

3 SIR WILLIAM JONES's works, with his Life, by LORD TEIGNMOUTH, 9 vols. 4to. Lond. 1799-1804; or 13 vols. 8vo. 1807.

378. Philosophizing in England constantly pursued the path of experience, and endeavoured to advance the interests of science, sometimes with acute and profound, at other times with narrow and superficial views; religion being throughout the principal object to which its inquiries were directed. The same tendency prevailed in France also, modified however by the character of the French nation, as well as by the influence still possessed by the clergy in checking freedom of thought. The metaphysics of Descartes and Malebranche had fallen into oblivion, Gassendi and Newton having taken their place; though a still more numerous party devoted themselves to the principles of Locke. Montesquieu,' who investigated the Laws of Nations with the genius of a true philosopher, and the mathematician and naturalist P, L. Moreau de Maupertuis, pursued the empirical method without calling in question the fundamental principles of Religion. The influence of the philosopher of Ferney, François Marie Arouet de Voltaires was more extensive and pernicious. He assigned the casting-vote in philosophy to the common popular Understanding and to Wit. To him may be added Jean Jacques Rousseau, who combined with him in greatly diminishing the reverence for everything positive in religion and the state, by their attacks on ecclesiastical and political despotism. Ch. Batteux, may be considered the first Frenchman who

1 CHARLES SECONDAT, Baron de Montesquieu; born in the Château de la Brède, near Bordeaux, 1689; died 1755.

De l'Esprit des Lois, 1748; (numerous editions). EŒuvres, Lond. 1759, 3 vols. 4to; 5 vols. 8vo. (several other editions). Œuvres Posthumes, 1798, 8vo.

2 Born at St. Malo, 1691; died at Bâle, 1759.

Essai de Philosophie Morale, Lond. 1750, 8vo. Essai de Cosmologie. Berl. 1750, 8vo. Œuvres, Lyons, 1756, 4 vols. 8vo.

3 FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE, born 1694, died 1778. See his Life by CONDORCET, and since by ANCILLON, Mélanges de Lit térature et de Philosophie.

Lettres Philosophiques, par VOLTAIRE [burnt by the executioner]. Candide, ou l'Optimisme.

Euvres de Voltaire, 45 vols. 4to. Genève, 1768, et suiv. Nouvelle édition, par BEAUMARCHAIS, 70 vols. 8vo. Kehl, 1784-89. Edit. de BEUCHOT, 72 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1829-1834, &c.

4 Born at Allendhuy, 1713; died 1780.

Les Beaux Arts réduits à un même Principe, Paris, 1746, (several editions). Cours de Belles-Lettres, ou Principes de la Littérature, Paris, 1747-50, (many editions).

proposed a theory of the fine arts, likewise based on empirical principles. Etienne Bonnot de Condillac,' the model of French Philosophy till very recently, laboured to bring to perfection the system of Empiricism, and to trace all the representations of the mind of Man, since the Fall, to Sensation, or the faculty of feeling, by means of the principle of the transformation and modification of sensations. The cultivation of Language, which he derived from the involuntary tones of feeling, i. e. of pleasure and pain, he asserted to be the medium of improvement to Science. He affected to establish all knowledge according to mathematical strictness, by reducing each particular science to its most simple expression, or in other words, to an identical proposition. It may be remarked that he confounds in his theory the principles of Empirical and Speculative philosophy, and approximates the Atomic Theory of Gassendi, by enumerating among original facts that of the existence of bodies; (see the theory of Gassendi, § 323). Charles Bonnet also rendered considerable service to psychology, He was an admirable observer of Nature, with a mind habitually religious. He also derived all our representations from Sensation, by means of certain fibres and their vibrations; distinguishing the mind from the body, but allowing it to possess nothing of its own but a twofold

1 Born at Grenoble, 1716; died 1780.

Cours d'Etude du Prince de Parme, par M. l'Abbé de CONDILLAC, Paris, 1776, 16 vols. 8vo.

Essai sur l'Origine des Connaissances Humaines, Amsterd. 1746, 2 vols. 12mo.

Traité des Sensations, Lond. 1754, 2 vols. 12mo.

Traité des Animaux, Amsterd. 1755, 2 vols. 12mo.

Euvres Philosophiques, Paris, 1795, 6 vols. 12mo. (several other editions).

2 Born at Geneva, 1720; died 1793.

(CH. DE BONNET), Essai de Psychologie, ou considerations sur les opérations de l'âme, sur l'habitude et sur l'education, Lond. 1755, 8vo. Essai Analytique sur les Facultés de l'âme, Copenh. 1759–60, third edit. 1775.

La Palingénésie Philosophique, ou Idées sur l'état passé et sur l'état futur des êtres vivans, Genéve, 1769, 2 vols. 8vo.

Euvres d'Histoire Naturelle et de Philosophie, Neufchâtel, 1779; second edition, 1783, 8 vols 4to.

Mémoires pour servir a l'Histoire de la Vie et des Œuvres de M. Ch. Bonnet, par J. TREMBLEY, Berne, 1794, 8vo.