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

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and

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. Returning to Scotland, he lived at

, near

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, 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

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External links