Thomas Brown (9 January 17782 April 1820) was a Scottish physician, philosopher, and poet. Renowned as a physician for his structured thinking, diagnostic skills, and prodigious memory, Brown went on to hold the Chair of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University from 1810 to 1820; where, "rather than pronouncing how he found things to be, [Brown] taught [his students] how to go about thinking about things."Yeates (2016), p. 31.

Biography Early life Brown was born at Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbrightshire, the son of Rev. Samuel Brown (died 1779) (minister of Kirkmabreck and Kirkdale) and Mary Smith.

Their son was a wide reader and an eager student. Educated at several schools in London, he went to the University of Edinburgh in 1792, where he attended Dugald Stewart's moral philosophy class, but does not appear to have completed his course. After studying law for a time he took up medicine; his graduation thesis De Somno was well received. But his strength lay in metaphysical analysis.Chisholm (1911).

Career Brown set an answer to the objections raised against the appointment of Sir John Leslie to the mathematical professorship (1805). Leslie, a follower of David Hume, was attacked by the clerical party as a sceptic and an infidel, and Brown took the opportunity to defend Hume's doctrine of causality as in no way inimical to religion.Brown (1806). His defence, at first only a pamphlet, became in its third edition a lengthy treatise entitled Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect,Brown (1818). and is a fine specimen of Brown's analytical faculty.

In 1806, Brown became a medical practitioner in partnership with James Gregory (1753–1821), but, though successful, preferred literature and philosophy. After twice failing to gain a professorship in the university, he was invited, during an illness of Dugald Stewart in the session of 1808–1809, to act as his substitute, and during the following session he undertook much of Stewart's work. The students received him with enthusiasm, due partly to his splendid rhetoric and partly to the novelty and ingenuity of his views. In 1810 he was appointed as colleague to Stewart, a position which he held for the rest of his life. Brown was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory He wrote his lectures at high pressure, and devoted much time to the editing and publication of the numerous poems which he had written at various times during his life. He was also preparing an abstract of his lectures as a handbook for his class. His health, never strong, gave way under the strain of his work.

He was advised to take a trip to London, where he died in 1820 aged 42. His body was returned to Kirkmabreck for burial.Waterston & Shearer (2006), p. 124.

Criticism of Erasmus Darwin One of Brown's notable works included a critique of Erasmus Darwin's theory of transmutation. The philosopher published it in the form of a detailed study Observations on the zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin (1798), which was recognized as a mature work of criticism.History English Philosophy, A History of British Philosophy to 1900. CUP Archive. p. 209 ; 9781001412795

There, Brown wrote:

Noteworthy, Brown's criticism of the Darwinian thesis, like that of Rudolf Virchow, did not come from any religious feeling. In fact, Brown's critique bears an uncanny resemblance to Thomas Robert Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) in which Malthus's main objection against Darwin's thesis, like that of Brown, was epistemological rather than religious.Meiring (2020).

Reception

According to Mike Dacey (2015, p. 35), "Brown’s unique philosophy results from his historical place at the intersection of the associationists and the Scottish school": and, "characteristic of the Scottish school, Brown refuse[d] to speculate on physical or physiological correlates to psychological phenomena":In his Ninth Lecture, "Recapitulation of the Four preceding Lectures; and Application of the Laws of Physical Inquiry to the Study of Mind, Commenced" (1851, pp. 51–57), Brown specifically mentions (p. 52, etc.) Isaac Newton and his "hypotheses non fingo" position on the regularities that he (Newton) had empirically observed. "Two of [Brown's] ideas stand out as particularly important in later formulations of associationism. He first proposed secondary laws of association, which determine which specific feeling will follow in any particular case. He also introduced the idea that the latter of two successive feelings need not replace the former, but the former could continue in a virtual coexistence with it. He calls it 'virtual' because, in his view, the mind can only be in one state at a time and mental states do not have parts, so there cannot literally be two ideas in mind at once. Virtual coexistence brings complex ideas together without 'connecting' them as literal parts of a whole. A new complex idea is formed when a suggesting idea remains, virtually, to coexist with the idea suggested. Mike Dacey (2015, p. 35).

Later criticism of Brown's philosophy lessened its popularity, a severe attack being made by Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet in his DiscussionsSee: Hamilton, 1852. and Lectures on Metaphysics.See: Hamilton, 1861a, and 1861b. A high estimate of his merits was shown in John Stuart Mill's Examination of Hamilton.See: Mill, 1865. Also, in David Welsh's Account of the Life and Writings (1825) and James McCosh's Scottish Philosophy (1874). Friedrich Eduard Beneke, who found in him anticipations of some of his own doctrines.See Die neue Psychologie, pp. 320–330.

The philosopher Schopenhauer wrote of him in 1844: Quite recently Thomas Brown has taught ... in his extremely tedious book Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect (4th ed., 1835), ... that knowledge springs from an innate, intuitive, and instinctive conviction; he is therefore essentially on the right path. However, the crass ignorance is unpardonable by which, in this book of 476 pages, 130 of which are devoted to the refutation of Hume, no mention at all is made of Kant, who cleared up the matter seventy years ago. The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, Chapter IV

In his On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, § 20, Schopenhauer claimed that Brown intended to provide support for the Cosmological Proof of God's Existence. "… sometimes there is an intention…a theological design flirting with the Cosmological Proof…. We find the clearest instance of this in Thomas Browne's [sic] book, On the Relation of Cause and Effect…this Englishman rightly recognizes, that the causal law has invariably to do with changes, and that every effect is accordingly a change. Yet…he is unwilling to admit that every cause is likewise a change and that the whole process is therefore nothing but the uninterrupted connection of changes succeeding one another in time. On the contrary, he persists in clumsily calling the cause an object or substance, which precedes the change…in order that his definition may on no account stand in the way of the Cosmological Proof…."

His friend and biographer, David Welsh (1793–1845), superintended the publication of Brown's text-book, the Physiology of the Human Mind, and his Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind,See Yeates (2005). which was published by his successors, John Stewart and Edward Milroy. The Lectures were well received both in England (where it reached a 19th edition)Brown (1851). and in the USA.

Among Brown's poems, which were influenced by Alexander Pope and Akenside were: Paradise of Coquettes (1814); Wanderer in Norway (1815); War-Fiend (1816); Bower of Spring (1817); Agnes (1818); Emily (1819); a collected edition in 4 vols. appeared in 1820. According to Cousin (1910, p. 50), his poetry, although "graceful", "lacked force", "and is now [viz., 1910] forgotten".

Brown was one of the first contributors to the Edinburgh Review.Namely, Brown 1803a, 1803b, and 1803c. In its second number, he published a criticism of Immanuel Kant's philosophy, based on Charles de Villers's account of it.Brown (1803a).

See also

Footnotes

References and further reading

Thomas Brown

Brown, Thomas (1798), Observations on the Zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin, M.D., Edinburgh: Mundell & Son. (Brown, Thomas) (1803a), "Viller's Philosophy of Kant", Edinburgh Review, Vol.1, No.2, (January 1803), pp. 253–280. (Brown, Thomas) (1803b), "Belsham's Philosophy of the Mind", Edinburgh Review, Vol.1, No.2, (January 1803), pp. 475–485. (Brown, Thomas) (1803c), "Lettre de Charles Villers à Georges Cuvier, de l'Institut National de France, & c. A Letter from Charles Villers to Georges Cuvier, Member of the National Institute of France, on a New Theory of the Brain, as the immediate Organ of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties; by Dr. Gall of Vienna. Metz. 1802", Edinburgh Review, Vol.2, No.3, (April 1803), pp. 147–160. Brown, Thomas (1804a), Poems by Thomas Brown, M.D. in Two Volumes: Volume I, Edinburgh: Mundell & Son. Brown, Thomas (1804b), Poems by Thomas Brown, M.D. in Two Volumes: Volume II, Edinburgh: Mundell & Son.

Brown, Thomas (1808), The Renovation of India, A Poem; with The Prophecy of Ganges, an Ode, Edinburgh: Mundell & Son. Brown, Thomas (1816a), The Wanderer in Norway, with Other Poems, London: J. Murray. Brown, Thomas (1816b), The War-Fiend, with Other Poems (Second Edition), London: J. Murray. Brown, Thomas (1817a), The Bower of Spring, with Other Poems, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. Brown, Thomas (1817b), The Paradise of Coquettes: A Poem (Second Edition), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. Brown, Thomas (1818a), Agnes, A Poem: in Four Parts, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.

Brown, Thomas (1819), Emily, with Other Poems, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. Brown, Thomas (1820a), Sketch of a System of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, Part First: Comprehending the Physiology of the Mind, Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute. Brown, Thomas (1820b), The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Brown, M.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh: Vol.I: containing, The Paradise of Coquettes, Edinburgh: W. and C. Tait. Brown, Thomas (1820c), The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Brown, M.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh: Vol.II: containing, I. The Renovation of India, II. The Wanderer in Norway, &c., Edinburgh: W. and C. Tait. Brown, Thomas (1820d), The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Brown, M.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh: Vol.III: containing, I. The Bower of Spring, II. The War-Fiend, &c., Edinburgh: W. and C. Tait. Brown, Thomas (1820e), The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Brown, M.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh: Vol.IV: containing, I. Agnes, II. Emily, with Other Poems, Edinburgh: W. and C. Tait.

Others

Blakey, Robert (1836), "Dr. Thomas Brown: Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind", pp. 239–250 in Robert Blakey, History of Moral Science, in Two Volumes: Vol.II (Second Edition), Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute. Blakey, Robert (1850), "Dr. Thomas Brown", pp. 25–33 in Robert Blakey, R., History of the Philosophy of Mind: Embracing the Opinions of all Writers on Mental Science from the Earliest Period to the Present Time; Volume IV: From the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. Boyle, James Parkinson (1849), Compendium of Dr. Brown's Philosophy of the Human Mind, by James Parkinson Boyle, Resident Master, (Trinity College, Dublin), in Two Parts, containing the substance of the two first Vols., chiefly intended for the use of the students of the university (New edition, containing the Sketch of the Physiology of the Mind, unabridged), Dublin: Thomas Connolly.