Andrew Baxter (1686/1687,
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
23 April 1750,
Whittingehame
Whittingehame is a parish with a small village in East Lothian, Scotland, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. The area is on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills. Whittingehame Tower dates from the 15th century an ...
,
East Lothian
East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In 1975, the histo ...
) was a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
metaphysician.
Life
Baxter was educated at
King's College,
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
. He maintained himself by acting as tutor to noblemen's sons. From 1741 to 1747 he lived with Lord Blantyre and Mr Hay of
Drummelzier at Utrecht, and made excursions in
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Returning to Scotland, he lived at
Whittingehame
Whittingehame is a parish with a small village in East Lothian, Scotland, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. The area is on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills. Whittingehame Tower dates from the 15th century an ...
, near
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, until his death in 1750. At Spa he had met
John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...
, then twenty years old, and formed a lasting friendship with him.
Writings
Baxter's chief work, ''An Inquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul'' (editions 1733, 1737 and 1745; with appendix added in 1750 in answer to an attack in
Maclaurin
Maclaurin or MacLaurin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746), Scottish mathematician
* Normand MacLaurin (1835–1914), Australian politician and university administrator
* Henry Normand MacLaurin ( ...
's ''Account of Sir I. Newton's Philosophical Discoveries'', and dedication to John Wilkes), examines the properties of matter. It described the one essential property of matter as its inactivity, ''vis inertiae'' (accepted later by
Monboddo
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (baptised 25 October 1714; died 26 May 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics. In 1767 ...
). All movement in matter is, therefore, caused by some immaterial force, namely, God. But the movements of the body are not analogous to the movements of matter; they are caused by a special immaterial force, the soul. The soul, as being immaterial, is immortal, and its consciousness does not depend upon its connection with the body. He claimed the argument was supported by an analysis of the phenomena of dreams, which are ascribed to direct spiritual influences. Lastly Baxter attempted to prove that matter is finite.
Baxter's ''Inquiry'' met rather different reactions. E.g. it was criticized by
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
in a letter which pointed on Baxter's lack of understand in mechanics, yet left a lasting impression on
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
, who said, 'I should not wonder if I found that Andrew had thought more on the subject of Dreams than any other of our Psychologists, Scotch or English'.
His work is an attack on
John Toland
John Toland (30 November 167011 March 1722) was an Irish people, Irish rationalist philosopher and freethought, freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, whi ...
's ''Letters to Serena'' (1704), which argued that motion is essential to matter, and on
Locke and
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
. His criticism of Berkeley (in the second volume) is, however, based on the common misinterpretation of his theory. Sir
Leslie Stephen
Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
Life
Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellectua ...
described him as a curious example of "the effects of an exploded metaphysics on a feeble though ingenious intellect".
Baxter's ideas on dreams were contested by
Thomas Branch
Thomas Branch (fl. 1738–1753), was a British author. His ''Principia Legis et Æquitatis'' was regarded as "the accumulated spirit and wisdom of ... the English law."
Life
Nothing is known of Branch's life, but if the "lady of Thomas Branc ...
in his ''Thoughts on Dreaming'' (1738).
Works
*''Some Reflections on a late Pamphlet called, The State of the Moral World Considered'', 1732
*''An enquiry into the nature of the human soul; wherein the immateriality of the soul is evinced from the principles of reason and philosophy'', 1733
*''Matho; or, The cosmotheoria puerilis'', 1740
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
* Andrew Baxte
An enquiry into the nature of the human soul Vol. 1, 1745 (3rd ed.), Internet Archive
* Andrew Baxte
An enquiry into the nature of the human soul Vol. 2, 1745 (3rd ed.), Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Andrew
1686 births
1750 deaths
Scottish philosophers
Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Metaphysicians