James Ferrier

James Ferrier

Philosophy

Profession: Philosopher (Professional) Role in St Andrews: Chair of moral philosophy and political economy at the university Years in St Andrews: 1845-1864

history

1808

Francesco Alessandrini Lupia

Organisation

198

James Ferrier

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Frederick_Ferrier

TEXT

Q3161092

D.O.B: 1808 D.O.D: 1864 Family origins: Father: John Ferrier, barrister and writer to the signet Mother: Margaret Wilson (from family with writers etc) Education: private education at the manse of the Revd Henry Duncan, Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire Royal High School, Edinburgh 1817 – 1821 two years at school of the Revd Charles Parr Burney, Greenwich University of Edinburgh 1825–1827 BA degree Magdalen College, Oxford 1828-1832 Private life/family life: Marriage with Margaret Anne Wilson, his cousin, in 1837 5 children

Involved in which fields of scholarship? Philosophy Most famous contribution(s) to scholarship 1 (i.e. in philosophy): First article: ‘An introduction to the philosophy of consciousness’ (Blackwood's Magazine, 1838 and 1839) Institutes of Metaphysics (1854) Detachment from his master Hamilton: dissatisfaction with his intuitionist metaphysics (part of mainstream Scottish common-sense philosophy) and with his psychological approach: therefore, offered “reconciliation of philosophy and common sense”, insistent upon the non-empirical character of philosophy: e.g. Institutes of Metaphysics (1854), resolutely a priori account of epistemology and metaphysics Great innovation: careful and approving use of the arguments of German idealism After him, no longer intellectually respectable among Scottish or English philosophers not to read Kant, Hegel, Fichte, and their contemporaries in their original form Invented word “epistemology” (theory of knowledge) in his translation of Fichte If you want to read one thing written by him/her, it should be: Institutes of Metaphysics (1854)

1864

Other societies/groups elsewhere? Circle of Hamilton Associated places in St Andrews: (e.g. home, lab, favourite spot) Seat of the chair of moral philosophy Possible human interest story 1: In Oxford, Ferrier did not study as much as his father wished and was not an academically excellent student. He preferred riding, hunting, conversation. Possible human interest story 2: Impressed by Sir William Hamilton: Dissatisfied with the narrow provincialism and arid pieties of the then dominant common-sense school of Scottish philosophy, influenced by contemporary German thought, thus task of philosophical revisionism and cultural reform: Ferrier as an enthusiastic recruit Possible human interest story 3: Visit of Germany in 1834: study of language, literature, philosophy: influenced particularly by Hegel Possible human interest story 4: Lectures (also published as articles) on moral philosophy, Greek philosophy, political economy, and metaphysics: subtle dialectician, outspoken innovator, unapologetic partisan in the intellectual controversies convulsing Scotland due to Disruption of 1843 Possible human interest story 5: His very controversial views earned him respect, but also considerable criticism. Thus, he failed twice to be elected to chairs at the University of Edinburgh – and stayed in St Andrews. In Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New (1856), he attacked his critics. Connected to other people in St Andrews or elsewhere?: Sir William Hamilton Biographical sources: (e.g. OxDNB, family memoir, other...) OxDNB John Haldane: The Philosophical Works of James Frederick Ferrier Available images of the person: University of St Andrews photographic collections