Stewart Dugald

Stewart DUGALD (1753-1828), Scottish philosophical writer, was born in Edinburgh, where his father was professor of mathematics at the University. Entering that of Glasgow in 1771, he returned in the following year, and occupied his father's post as a deputy. Philosophy was, however, his chief study, and in 1778 he was temporarily appointed to the chair of moral philosophy at Edinburgh, and again in 1785, remaining in the position till 1810. His lectures gained him much fame and he discussed political economy as well as his own subject proper. The first volume of his admirable Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind appeared in 1792, the second in 1814, the third in 1826. Other works of his deserving of record are his Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith (1793) and his Philosophical Essays (1810). His complete works were edited by Sir William Hamilton. He was not a very original philosopher, but he did useful work.