STEWART, DUGALD. This philosopher was b. in Edinburgh, on Nov. 22. 1753. His father was Matthew Stewart, professor of mathematics in the university of Edin burgh. He entered the high school in his eighth year, and remained till his thirteenth. During the last two years of his attendance, when in the rector's classes, he was princi pally under Alexander Adam, afterward well known for his classical scholarship, who then began to teach as the rector's substitute. His subsequent course at the university extended from 1765 to 1769. In the departments of study where his own career ia tez ward lay, he was fortunate to find professors of ability and distinction; the logic chair was filled by John Stevenson, who lectured on logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, and the history of philosophy; the moral philosophy chair was occupied by Adam Ferguson. While Stewart gave his highest promise in these subjects, he also made great attainments in mathematics and natural philosophy, and likewise in classics. In 1771 he went to study at Glasgow, partly with a view to one of the Snell scholarships at Baliol college, Oxford, and to attend the lectures of Dr. Reid. It was while there that he wrwe an essay on druumng, which was his first effort in mental philosophy, and contained the germs of many of his subsequent speculations. He lived in the same house with Archi bald Alison, the author of the Essay on Taste, and the two became intimate friends through life. lie was at Glasgow only one session. In 1772, in his 19th year, he was called upon by his father, whose health was failing, to teach the mathematical classes in the university of Edinburgh; in 1775 he was elected joint professor, and acted in that capacity till 1785. In 1778 Adam Ferguson was absent from his post on a political mis sion to America, and Stewart taught the moral philosophy class in addition to his mathe matical classes. The lectures that he gave on this occasion were wholly his own. end were delivered from notes, as was his practice in after years. On the resignation of Ferguson in 1785 he was appointed professor of moral philosophy, and continued in the active duties of the class for 25 years. Ilia lectures-were greatly admired and attended. He went over a wide compass of subjects: psychology, or the science of mind proper, metaphysics, logic, ethics, natural theology, the principles of taste, politics, and last of all, political economy, which, from the year 1800, he treated in a separate course. In 1792 appeared his first volume of the Elements of the Philosophy of the _Human Mind. In 1793 he published his Outlines. He read before the royal society of Edin burgh, in 1793, his Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith; in 1796 the Account of the Life and Writings of Principal Robertson; and in 1802 the Account of the Life and •Writings of Dr. Reid. In 1805 he took a prominent part in the Leslie controversy; being
the 'author of a pamphlet setting forth the facts of the case, and also, in the general assembly, giving vent to his indignation at the proceedings against Leslie. In 1806, on the accession of the Whig party to power, he received a sinecure office worth £300 a year. The death of his second 'son, in 1809, gave a blow to his health, otherwise indifferent, and he was unable to lecture during part of the following session; Dr. Thomas Brown, at his request, acting as his substitute. The following year Brown was appointed con joint professor, and taught the class till his death in 1820. From 1809 Stewart lived in comparative retirement at Kinneil house, Linlithgowshire, which the duke of Hamilton placed at his service.' In 1810 lie published his PhiloSophical Essays; in 1814 the second volume of the Elements; in 1815 the first part, and in 1821 the second part, of the Dis sertation on the History of Ethical Philosophy; in 1827 the third volume of the Elements; and in 1828, a few weeks before his death, the Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers.
On the death of Brown, Stewart exerted himself to secure the appointment of sir W. Hamilton to the chair, but the influence used with the town council in behalf of John Wilson was overpowering; the votes stood 21 9 for Hamilton. Stewart resigned his conjoint professorship on June 20, 1820.
The philosophy of Stewart' was the following up of the reaction commenced by Reid against the skeptical results that Berkeley and Hume drew from the principles of Locke. Both Reid and Stewart professed the Baconian method of observation and induction, as against mere ontology, but considered that these processes of investigation could estab lish certain ultimate proofs of a higher certainty than themselves. Hence arose the principles of common sense of Reid, in which Stewart for the most part acquiesced. 13tewart also followed and improved upon Reid in that systematic exposition of all the powers of the mind, which Tendered mental philosophy for the first time a subject of study, independent of metaphysical, logical. and ethical applications; although he also followed it out in all these directions with his usual perspicacity and felicity of exposi tion. His contributions to the philosophy of taste, in the Philosophical Essays, are among the best parts of his writings.
On the whole, although Stewart was not one of the most thinkers in his department, yet, by•the force of his teaching and the compass of his writings, he did more than almost any man to diffuse an interest in the speculations connected with the human mind. His collected works have been edited by sir W. Hamilton, in 11 vols., to which prof. Veitch has contributed his biography.