Tag Archives: regent

David Verner (d. 1752)

About Verner

  • Regent at Aberdeen

Teaching

  • ‘Natural jurisprudence figured in his 1731 thesis…since he there alluded to Grotius and Puffendorf, and touched on the origins of private property rights.’ (Wood, Aberdeen Enlightenment 39*)

Publications, Manuscripts and other Resources

  • Dissertatio philosophica, de passionibus sive affectibus, quam … in auditorio publico Academiae Novae Abredonensis, ad diem [ ] Aprilis, propugnabunt, David Verner praeses, et hi candidati laurea magisteriali condonandi (Abredeis : Nicol, 1721) [University of Aberdeen, Special Collections: SBL 1721 N 1 (Xerox copy)]
  • Dissertatio … philosophica … de finibus bonorum et benevolentia (Aberdeen, 1730) [University of Glasgow, Special Collections: Sp Coll BG57-k.34]

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.

 

George Turnbull (1698-1748)

About Turnbull

  • Regent at Aberdeen, 1721-1727
  • Tutor to Andrew Wauchope of Niddry and Thomas Watson

Teaching

  • ‘In his elaborate manual for the education of the virtuous republican citizen and dutiful office-holder in the divine corporation [Observations upon Liberal Education (London, 1742)], Turnbull includes the study of Roman law, followed by natural law, as essential. More particularly, he recommends Grotius, Pufendorf, and his own Heineccius….’ (Haakonssen, Natural law 98*)

Publications, Manuscripts, and other Resources

  • Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, A Methodical System of Universal Law: Or, the Laws of Nature and Nations, with Supplements and a Discourse by George Turnbull. Translated from the Latin by George Turnbull, edited with an Introduction by Thomas Ahnert and Peter Schröder (London 1741; repr Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 2008). Available from Online Library of Liberty.
  • G Turnbull, The Principles of Moral Philosophy (London, 1740) Available from Google Books and the Internet Archive

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.

Henry Scougal (1650-1678)

About Scougal

  • Regent at Aberdeen

Teaching

  • Cited Cumberland, De legibus naturae (1672) in theses of 1673 (Haakonssen, ‘Natural’ 262*)

Publications, Manuscripts and other Resources

  • Philosophiae moralis tractatus (1678) University of Aberdeen, Special Libraries and Archives MS 1026

 

NPG D30917; Henry Scougal by Thomas Trotter

Henry Scougal
by Thomas Trotter
line engraving, published 1796
NPG D30917
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Creative Commons Licence

*For references, please see the Site Bibliography.

William Law (d. 1729)

About Law

  • Regent at University of Edinburgh from 1690
  • Chair of Moral Philosophy at University of Edinburgh from 1708

Teaching

  • Taught natural law as a regent and continued to do so as a professor (Haakonssen, ‘Natural’ 262*)

 Publications, Manuscripts and other Resources

      • Dictates on ethics (1696), physics (1701), Annotationes in ontologgiam Gerrardi de Vries and Annotationes in pneumatologiam Gerrardi de Vries (1703-1704), and Annotationes in physicam generalem D. Joannis Clerici (1705) (University of Edinburgh, Centre for Research Collections, MSS Dc.7.79; Dc.8.43; Dc.8.53, ff. 43-119; Gen.71D)
      • Adv. MS 22.7.4, ‘Lectures of Prof. William Law taken by William Haldane’ (1699-1700)’ [Including from f. 49 ‘Elementa Philsophia Moralis’] (Advocates Library, Edinburgh)
      • MS Dc.8.53, ff. 42-119, ‘Dictates on Ethics (of William Law), taken down by John Smith, 1696’ (University of Edinburgh, Centre for Research Collections)
      • MS La.III.152, ‘Dictates on Ethics (of William Law), taken down by Robert Clark, 1696’ (University of Edinburgh, Centre for Research Collections)

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.

Thomas Nicolson (1644/6-1718)

About Nicolson

  • Regent at Glasgow University, 1666-1681 (ODNB*)

 Publications, manuscripts, and other Resources

  • Lectures on philosophy, delivered at Glasgow (1675-76) [metaphysics and moral philosophy, lectures of Thomas Nicolson taken by James Bisset] (Advocates Library Adv. MS.5.2.2.)

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.

Patrick Hardie

About Hardie

  • Regent at Aberdeen

Teaching

  • ‘…critical of Hobbes, and it would appear from Hardie’s thesis that he attacked Hobbes’s account of moral laws in his lectures on natural jurisprudence’. (Wood, Aberdeen Enlightenment 39-40*)

Publications, Manuscripts and Other Resources

  • Amplissimo ac ornatissimo Domino D. Gulielmo Forbes … theses hasce philosophicas … D.D.C.Q. Patricius Hardie praeses et hi candidati laurea magisteriali condecorandi … Qui … theses hasce … publice propugnabunt, in Collegio Novo Universitatis Carolinae Abredonensis, ad 11 diem Aprilis, 1722 (Aberdeen, 1722)

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.

Thomas Reid (1710-1796)

About Reid

  • Student of George Turnbull at Aberdeen (ODNB*)
  • Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow, 1764-1780
  • Founding member of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society (1758–1773) (see here for membership and archival materials at University of Aberdeen, Special Collections)
  • Member of the Glasgow Literary Society
  • Critic of David Hume and proponent of ‘Common Sense’ philosophy

Teaching

  • Regent at King’s College, Aberdeen, 1751-1764 (ODNB*)
  • At ‘public’ class at Glasgow, lectured on pneumatology, ethics, and politics: two hours a day each morning during the session (ODNB*)
  • ‘Private’ class three days a week during the session on the ‘culture of the mind’ (ODNB*)
  • Successful teacher who prospered despite having a dry style (ODNB*)
  • Left teaching to his assistant Archibald Arthur in 1780 (ODNB*)

Publications

  • T Reid, Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common Sense (London and Edinburgh, 1764) Available from Google Books
  • T Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785) Available from the Internet Archive
  • T Reid, Essays on the Active Powers of Man (Edinburgh, 1788), includes chapter, ‘Of Systems of Natural Jurisprudence’, at 387-94) Available from Google Books
  • T Reid, Practical Ethics: Being Lectures and Papers on Natural Religion, Self-Government, Natural Jurisprudence, and the Law of Nations, ed. Knud Haakonssen (Princeton, 1990) Available from Google Books

Material in Libraries, Archives, and Digital Collections

  • Reid Project: includes catalogue, bibliography and downloadable issues of Reid Studies: An International Review of Scottish Philosophy
  • The Papers of Thomas Reid (Digitised by University of Aberdeen, Special Collections)
  • Thomas Reid Papers (MS 3061): essays and notes on a variety of topics (University of Aberdeen, Special Collections)
  • Birkwood Collection (MS 2131): ‘over 800 items relating to the writings and teachings of Thomas Reid’ (University of Aberdeen, Special Collections). Including MS 2131/7/VII/21, ‘Of the Law of Nations’
  • A Arthur, ‘Archibald Arthur’s notes on Thomas Reid’s lectures (1765)’, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, MS 891086
  • Robert Jack, ‘Dr Reid’s Lectures, 1774-1776’,University of Glasgow, Special Collections (GUL) MS 116-18
  • George Baird, ‘Notes from the Lectures of Dr Thomas Reid, 1779-80’, 8 vols, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, MS A104929

 

NPG D5598; Thomas Reid by Charles Picart, after John Tassie
Thomas Reid
by Charles Picart, after John Tassie
stipple engraving, published 1811
NPG D5598
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Creative Commons Licence

*For references, see the Site Bibliography.