This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. 2013 THESIS Rational Piety and Social Reform in Glasgow: The Life, Philosophy and Political Economy of James Mylne (1757-1839) By Stephen Cowley The University of Edinburgh For the degree of PhD © Stephen Cowley 2013 SOME QUOTES FROM JAMES MYLNE’S LECTURES “I have no objection to common sense, as long as it does not hinder investigation.” Lectures on Intellectual Philosophy “Hope never deserts the children of sorrow.” Lectures on the Existence and Attributes of God “The great mine from which all wealth is drawn is the intellect of man.” Lectures on Political Economy Page 2 Page 3 INFORMATION FOR EXAMINERS In addition to the thesis itself, I submit (a) transcriptions of four sets of student notes of Mylne’s lectures on moral philosophy; (b) one set of notes on political economy; and (c) collation of lectures on intellectual philosophy (i.e. the first third of the moral philosophy course). Previous page: Portrait of James Mylne by John Linnell (1835) copied from Sotheby’s catalogue (1985), accessed through Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The original was last known in the possession of Mr Ken Kastle, Virginia, USA in 2011. ABBREVIATIONS BL British Library, London EUL Edinburgh University Library FES Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae GChr Glasgow Chronicle GC Glasgow Courier GJ Glasgow Journal GM Glasgow Mercury GUA Glasgow University Archives GUL Glasgow University Library JSP Journal of Scottish Philosophy ML Mitchell Library, Glasgow NAS National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh NCL New College Library, Edinburgh NLS National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh PCL Paisley Central Library PRO Public Records Office, Kew Gardens, London StUL St Andrews University Library, St Andrews ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my supervisor, Professor David Fergusson, and examiners Dr. James Harris and Professor Stewart J. Brown for guidance on the content and final form of this thesis. The staff of the above libraries and archives were of great assistance to me. Page 4 CONTENTS Chapter Page Portrait of James Mylne 3 Information for Examiners, Abbreviations, Acknowledgements 4 Contents 5 Introduction 6 Part One: The Life of James Mylne (1757-1839) 1 - Early Life and Education 15 2 - Deputy Chaplaincy 28 3 - Ministry in Paisley 37 4 - Professor in Glasgow 55 5 - Whig Politics and Activity 69 6 - Family, Church and Succession 85 Part Two: Philosophy, Politics and Political Economy 7 - The Lectures on Intellectual Philosophy 107 8 - Encounters with Condillac and Thomas Reid 122 9 - The Active Powers and Moral Philosophy 139 10 - Faith, Belief and Freedom 152 11 - Political Influences and Doctrines 166 12 - Political Economy 185 Conclusion 210 Bibliography 219 Page 5 INTRODUCTION THE NEED TO RECOVER JAMES MYLNE’S PHILOSOPHY Introduction The philosopher James Mylne (1757-1839) vindicated the rational powers of humanity against the sceptical and “common sense” philosophies of his Scottish predecessors and earned the trust of his contemporaries for his Whig politics. He and the largely neglected philosophy and political economy classes he taught in Glasgow clearly merited closer study. My thesis thus contains a biography of Mylne and interpretative essays on his lectures on moral philosophy and political economy and his political views. James Mylne attended St Andrews University where he acquired a liberal education in the Scottish tradition and a particular knowledge of theology. He became a Deputy-Chaplain with the 83rd Regiment of Foot during the American War of Independence and his experience sheds light on his later advocacy of a militia. Thereafter he served for 14 years as a Minister in Paisley where he was exposed to the literary culture of Glasgow and the radical- tinged politics of the French revolutionary era. From 1797 until his death he was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University, where he delivered effective lectures on moral philosophy and political economy. His impact of his teaching was enhanced by student exercises in essay-writing, following the method of George Jardine. He was also active and influential in the Whig politics of the day. Mylne broke with the political caution of Adam Smith, Thomas Reid (1710-96) and James Beattie. 1 Smith’s warning of a “daring, but often dangerous spirit of innovation” in politics 2 contrasts with the “speedy and substantial reform” advocated by Mylne, who extended the Whig thought of John Millar (1735-1801). 3 The lectures contain material common to Scottish traditions of mental philosophy. However, Mylne’s philosophy is anchored in a tradition of “rational piety” that places individual 1 Thomas Reid, Dangers of Political Innovation in Arthur, Discourses on Theological and Literary Subjects (Glasgow, 1803); and James Beattie, Elements of Moral Science (Edinburgh, 1793: Vol 2 – Politicks). 2 Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (London, 1790, 6th edition; Oxford: Clarendon, 1976), 232. Smith’s sympathies with Burke, with whom he corresponded and whom he succeeded as Rector at Glasgow, and hostility to Richard Price, are evaluated in the context of the 6th edition of TMS by Daniel Brühlmeier’s essay “Price, Burke, Smith, Millar: Réactions Britanniques face à la Révolution Française” in La Révolution Française dans la Pensée Européenne (Lausanne: PAN, 1989). 3 George Jardine (1742-1827), professor of Logic to Rev Robin Hunter, letter of 16 July 1801 wrote on Millar’s death: “though I am sensible we have suffered of late in public opinion by his Politics and those he brought over to his side – yet with all his faults – our society has sustained an irreparable loss: as a Professor we shall never see the like of him.” (GUL:MSGen507/Letter 124.) Page 6 judgements at the core of mental life and in a philosophy of history that sees intellectual progress at the heart of social, economic and political developments. In place of the scepticism of David Hume (1711-76) and the common sense of Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), he proposed a constructive account of experience, developing directly from John Locke (1632-1704) and his French follower Condillac (1714-80). In two particular respects, Mylne’s thought diverges from the ‘moral sense’ and ‘common sense’ traditions associated with Francis Hutcheson and Thomas Reid in Glasgow. These are his doctrine of the external world and his account of free will and providence. Mylne draws on Condillac to argue that there is no need to draw on common sense to explain belief in an external world as this is explicable by an analysis of touch. He considers that the mind is determined to act by rational motives and the concept of freedom without motive is incoherent. As a result of these views, Mylne reinstates reason as the guiding principle of conscience and argues for utility as the predominant criterion of morality. His views of political reform and the concept of value in his political economy lectures on the emerging market economy are related loosely to these features of his philosophy. The influence of Mylne’s teaching was extensive both in Scotland and the English-speaking world. This can be documented by acknowledgements and reminiscences by his students, many of whom who went on to teach themselves and by comparison of their published works with the content of Mylne’s teaching. More distantly, I argue that Mylne had an indirect influence on the ethos of the early Idealist movement in Glasgow. Mylne’s philosophy evinces a sense of the unity of experience, drawn initially from the universal elements of sensation and judgement, but with religious overtones. His commitments to inquiry and social reform and critique of the common sense school prepared the ground for the Glasgow idealists. The Case for Recovering the Philosophy of ‘Old Sensation’ 4 The neglect of Mylne creates a vacuum in Scottish intellectual history that spills over into contemporary popular culture. For example, the bicentenary commemorations of the French revolution in Scotland generally represented the Scots as camp followers of Burke or Paine. 5 This underestimation of Scottish thought continues in the tourist displays of New Lanark, 4 “Mylne, of the Moral Philosophy chair, ycleped by the ways of the age ‘Old Sensation’...” Hogg’s Weekly Instructor volume 1 1845, 403 (article on DK Sandford). 5 Thomas Crwaford, Boswell, Burns and the French Revolution (Edinburgh: Saltire Society, 1989) for example shows little development from Henry Meikle’s Scotland and the French Revolution (Glasgow: MacLehose, 1912). Page 7 which are silent, for example, on Mylne’s connection with David Dale and influence on his grand-niece, Frances Wright. 6 Knowledge of Mylne’s philosophy has survived through a slender chapter in James McCosh in The Scottish Philosophy (1875) and other incidental reports in the literature on “Scottish philosophy”. 7 A key limiting factor for his reputation in the long run though, has been his failure to ensure publication of his work. During his life, this was normal, for lectures in Scotland were a personal asset and publication was thus often posthumous. 8 I will outline the history of his reputation. Many contemporary witnesses generally held a high view of Mylne as a teacher, even where they opposed his political or religious positions.