Patrick Edward Dove (31 July 1815 – 28 April 1873) was born at
Lasswade
Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles (14.5 kilometres) south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville C ...
, 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 ...
in Scotland. He is mainly remembered for his book ''The Theory of Human Progression'' of 1850 which sets out his philosophy that land should be in common ownership, with the ''
economic rent
In economics, economic rent is any payment (in the context of a market transaction) to the owner of a factor of production in excess of the cost needed to bring that factor into production. In classical economics, economic rent is any payment m ...
'' on the land taking the place of other taxes, an idea generally known as
Georgism
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
.
Early life
Patrick Dove came from a family of distinguished clergymen and landowners. He was descended from Sir William Dove of
Upton, near
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
(son of Bishop Thomas Dove). His branch of the family had connections with the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
going back to 1716 when they moved to
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
where the family still live. His father, Lieutenant Henry Dove RN, retired from active service with the Navy at the end of the
Napoleonic wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
in 1815, taking up an appointment at
Deal, Kent
Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked to the anchora ...
connected with the
Cinque Ports
The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to th ...
. Edward was educated in England and in France, where he was expelled from the Academy for leading a rebellion against the master. He greatly desired a career in the navy, but his father would not allow this and in 1830 Edward was sent to Scotland to learn farming. Following this he spent time in Paris, in Spain and in London, where he impressed a friend by his "enormous energy, both physical and mental".
In 1841 he took the ''Craig'' estate near
Ballantrae
Ballantrae is a community in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The name probably comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Baile na Tràgha'', meaning the "town by the beach". Ballantrae has a primary school. The beach consists of shingle and sand an ...
, Ayrshire, and lived the quiet life of a country gentleman. He was a first-rate horseman, took up fly-fishing and sailing, was an excellent shot and showed mechanical abilities, contributing the article on gunmaking to the 8th edition of
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
. As well as becoming an agricultural adviser to neighbouring farmers, during the
Scottish potato famine he put his energies into providing work for his starving neighbours. Since he disapproved of the game laws, he had no
gamekeeper
A gamekeeper (often abbreviated to keeper), or in case of those dealing with deer (deer-)stalker, is a person who manages an area of countryside (e.g. areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland) to make sure there is enough game for shoo ...
on his estate to stop
poaching
Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.
Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...
.
An unfortunate investment led to him losing most of his fortune in 1848, then in 1849 he married Ann Forrester, daughter of an Edinburgh solicitor. They spent the next year in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
, Germany, where he continued his interest in philosophy; studying, lecturing and writing.
''The Theory of Human Progression''
While Dove was still in Darmstadt, his book ''The Theory of Human Progression, and Natural Probability of a Reign of Justice'' was published anonymously in 1850 as a limited edition, both in London and Edinburgh. This was to be the first part of a treatise on "a Science of politics", defining science as "nature seen by the reason, and not merely by the senses. Science exists in the mind, and in the mind alone." In it he set out his thesis that "the land produces, according to the law of the Creator, more than the value of the labor expended upon it, and on this account men are willing to pay a rent for the land", this rent being "the profit that God had graciously been pleased to accord to human industry employed in the cultivation of the soil". He saw the land as a gift of the Creator to all men, which should therefore be common rather than private property, but dividing the land into equal shares would be impractical, so the rent should be shared in common, effectively replacing all other taxes.
The book was praised by
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
as the voice of a new revolution in education and economics, and the philosopher
Sir William Hamilton spoke of it rallying mankind to great reforms.
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
had copies made and circulated them in the United States, subsequently persuading Dove to write an article opposing slavery titled ''The Elder and Younger Brother'' which appeared in the ''Boston Commonwealth'' on 21 September 1853. Despite such praise the book was not a popular success, however some scholarly interest continued. In 1884
Henry George
Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...
praised the book at a public meeting in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, and Dove is now seen as a forerunner of the idea known as
Georgism
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
.
Intelligent design
The index and heading to page 476 uses the words ''Intelligence – intelligent design'', and this is now seen as one of the first uses of the term
intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
which has lately been revived by an anti-
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
movement. However Dove does not discuss biological evolution, though ''
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'' is an 1844 work of speculative natural history and philosophy by Robert Chambers. Published anonymously in England, it brought together various ideas of stellar evolution with the progressive tra ...
'' had brought ideas of
transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
to public attention in 1844, and uses the term ''evolution'' to refer to the development of "a genuine
natural theology
Natural theology, once also termed physico-theology, is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics (such as the existence of a deity) based on reason and the discoveries of science.
This distinguishes it from ...
".
Page 484
/ref> He reasons that intuitive perception of a "primordial force" in the works of nature, if only matter is thought to be ''objective'', leads to pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
, "the theological credence of a large portion of the scientific men on the continent". This appears to refer to the ideas of natural laws
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted ...
put forward by writers such as Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
which had influenced the inception of Darwin's theory
The inception of Darwin's theory occurred during an intensively busy period which began when Charles Darwin returned from the survey voyage of the ''Beagle'', with his reputation as a fossil collector and geologist already established. He was gi ...
, a theory which would not be made public until 1858. Dove contends that to achieve a "scientific exit" from pantheism the "primordial force" must be perceived as an intelligent agent, then notes that the adaption of matter for the achievement of ends has been called ''design'', a reference to the natural theology of the day.
Further work
Dove moved from Germany back to 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 ...
, where he gave lectures at the ''Philosophical Institution'', the subject in 1853 being ''Heroes of the Commonwealth''. In succeeding years he lectured on ''The Wild Sports of Scotland'' and ''The Crusades''. In April 1853 he became captain of the ''Midlothian Rifle Club'', and in 1854 as well as editing the ''Witness'' during the illness of a friend, he published the second volume of his treatise, ''Elements of Political Science''. This was followed by ''Romanism, Rationalism and Protestant'' in defence of Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
. He then wrote the concluding third volume of his treatise which remained unpublished and has been lost.
He published ''The Logic of the Christian Faith'', then in 1858 ''The Revolver'' which suggests ideas for rifle clubs and defence of the country as well as lamenting the Highland clearances
The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.
The first phase resulte ...
. That year he moved to Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
and edited the ''Commonwealth'' newspaper as well as the '' Imperial Dictionary of Biography'' and jointly edited the ''Imperial Journal of the Arts and Sciences''. He also wrote the Encyclopædia Britannica article on ''Government'' and devised a rifled cannon with advantages in range and accuracy, but was unable to afford further testing which the ordnance committee requested. He took command of the 91st Lanarkshire rifle volunteers in 1859 and in the next year won several prizes at the first meeting of the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
at Wimbledon Common
Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...
, but then suffered a stroke causing paralysis. In May 1862 he went to convalesce in the Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to ...
, South Africa, returning the following April, then died a year later. By this time slavery in the United States had been abolished.
References
The Theory of Human Progression
(abridged version)
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dove, Patrick Edward
1815 births
1873 deaths
Scottish essayists
Scottish philosophers
Scottish economists
People from Midlothian