Philosophy
I.Mill's Opponents Mill's logic embodies the cardinal principles of his philosophy.The principles implied that little of what is called philosophy could be valid.Mill necessarily held that many of the most pretentious speculations were,in reality,nothing but words;cobwebs of the brain to be swept into the dustbin,finally,though politely,by the genuine thinkers.His view of the consequences to theology and religion could for a long time be inferred only from incidental remarks.Gradually he came to think that the reticence was undesirable,and had given his final conclusions in the Essays,which were published after his death.
The philosophical position which underlies them is most clearly exhibited in his Examination of Hamilton (1865).(1)This included a criticism of Mansel's application of Hamilton's metaphysical doctrines to theology.Mansel's doctrine,stated in the Bampton Lectures of 1858,had provoked some sharp and many-sided controversies.He defended himself against Mill's criticism.Other writers joined the fray,and in one way or other a perplexing set of intellectual encounters resulted.The leading champions were Mill,representing the pure Utilitarian tradition,Mansel,who represented the final outcome of what Mill called 'intuitionism,'and F.D.Maurice,who may be briefly called the intellectual heir of Coleridge;while another line of inference was represented by Mr.Herbert Spencer's First Principles.Many of the arguments have already a strangely obsolete sound;but they may serve to illustrate the direction of the main currents of opinion.
The writings of Sir William Hamilton provided the ostensible battle-ground.Mill had seen in Hamilton certain symptoms of a hopeful leaning towards the true faith.Upon taking up the study more seriously,he discovered that Hamilton was really an intuitionist at bottom,and even a 'chief pillar'of the erroneous philosophy.I shall therefore inquire,in the first place,into the true nature of this version of the evil principle.It has been so often 'lucidly expounded'that it is hard to say what it really means.
Hamilton,(2)born 8th March 1788,was grandnephew,grandson,and son of three successive professors of anatomy at Glasgow.
While still an infant,he lost his father,and was ever afterwards on terms of the tenderest affection with his mother,who died in 1827.After at Glasgow,he went to Balliol as a Snell studying exhibitioner in 1807,and there startled his examiners by his portentous knowledge of Aristotle.(3)After some medical study,he decided to join the Scottish bar.He took,however,more interest in the antiquarian than the practical branches of the laws;and spent a great deal of time and labour on abstruse genealogical researches to establish his claim to a baronetcy.He had to show that he was heir to a Sir Robert Hamilton,who died in 1701,through a common ancestor who died before 1552.His love of obscure researches,or his want of aptitude for speaking,together with his adherence to Whig principles,kept him out of the road to professional success.He was known,however,as a 'monster of erudition.'He visited Germany with his college friend J.G.Lockhart in 1817,and on a second visit in 1820began a systematic study of the language.
In 1820Hamilton was a candidate for the chair of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh,vacant by the death of Thomas Brown.To the scandal of Philosophers,it was given to Wilson,or 'Christopher North,'mainly on political grounds.Probably it was also held that anybody could talk Moral Philosophy.Hamilton was appointed to a small professorship in 1821,but the salary,payable from a duty on beer,was stopped and he ceased to lecture.
In 1829,Macvey Napier,upon succeeding Jeffrey as editor of the Edinburgh Review,applied to his friend Hamilton for an article.The result was the review of Cousin,which appeared in the number for October 1829.Jeffrey was rather scandalised by this novelty in his old organ;the writer showed an unholy familiarity with the Absolute and the Infinite and the jargon of German metaphysics;he could not,said Jeffrey,be a 'very clever man,'and the article was the 'most unreadable thing that had ever appeared in the Review.'(4)The average reader,however,was awed if not interested;and a select few,including Cousin,were greatly impressed.Hamilton's reputation was made;he wrote other articles which confirmed the impression,and in 1836was appointed to the Edinburgh professorship of 'Logic and Metaphysics'.He was at length in his proper place;and many students of that generation became ardent disciples.For the next twenty years he was regarded with an enthusiasm like that which had surrounded Dugald Stewart in the previous period and Reid at an earlier date.His impressive appearance and force of character contributed the respect due to his vast reading and tone of rightful authority.He was unmistakably upright,a lover of speculation for its own sake,and a man of warm and pure affections.No one could be happier in domestic life.In 1828,after his mother's death,he married his cousin,Janet Marshall,by whom he had four children;He is described as gentle and kindly in his family;joining in childish games,writing in the general room,and amusing himself with extravagant romances.He possessed great physical strength till,in 1844,his imprudent habits of study brought on a paralytic stroke.He recovered partially,but became weaker and died on 6th May 1856.
