Rational piety and social reform in Glasgow: the life, philosophy and political economy of James Mylne (1757-1839)
View/ Open
Fox Club.xlsx (44.94Kb)
word appendix.zip (739.5Kb)
word thesis.zip (809.1Kb)
Appendix files.zip (3.895Mb)
Date
26/11/2013Author
Cowley, Stephen Graham
Metadata
Abstract
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. Smith’s warning of a “daring, but often
dangerous spirit of innovation” in politics contrasts with the “speedy and substantial
reform” advocated by Mylne, who extended the Whig thought of John Millar (1735-1801). 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 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.
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: