Thomas Upham (January 20, 1799 – April 2, 1872) was an American philosopher, psychologist, pacifist, poet, author, and educator. He was an important figure in the

holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emp ...

. He became influential within psychology literature and served as the

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

professor of mental and moral philosophy from 1825-1868. His most popular work, ''Mental Philosophy'' received 57 editions over a 73-year period. Additionally, he produced a volume of 16 other books and the first treatise on abnormal psychology, as well as several other works on religious themes and figures. Specific teachings included a conception of mental faculties - one of these restoring the will to psychology be developing a tripartite division of mental phenomena into intellectual, sentient, and voluntary. The intellect subsumed sensation and perception, attention, habit, association, and memory as well as reasoning. Sensibilities included natural emotions and desires, such as appetites, propensities, and affections, and also moral emotions, such as a feeling of obligation. Finally, the last division was the will, which allowed for volition as a basic component of human nature. This positing of a will free to choose between desires and obligations reflected the author's own spiritual journey from a Calvinistic background to the Wesleyan holiness perspective. However, perhaps his most critical contribution to the field of psychology was Upham's concept of

Positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...

which asserts that there are fundamental, transcendent laws, and living in harmony with them is the key to mental and spiritual health. This concept laid the foundation for a healthy kind of religiosity, and a spiritually-based positive psychology. Upham also had an influential relationship with

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel '' Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the har ...

while she resided in Brunswick. The Stowe and Upham families were close; Stowe described them as “delightful . . . such a perfect sweetness and quietude in all its movements . . . It is a beautiful pattern of a Christian family." Stowe and Upham frequently debated the abolitionist cause. Upham was a member of the Colonization Society, and while sympathetic to the anti-slavery cause, he believed that maintaining peace and obeying the law were more important. Stowe, a more fervent abolitionist, described an argument she had with Upham on the subject in a letter to her sister. She states that she and Professor Upham “had over the tea table the other night that sort of argument which consists in both sides saying over & over just what they said before, for any length of time—but when I asked him flatly if he would obey the law supposing a fugitive came to him Mrs. Upham laughed & he hemmed & hawed."

Works

* Anonymous (Thomas Cogswell UphamSabin, Joseph. ''Bibliotheca Americana'' Volume 26 (1935), page 145 (98049)). ''American Sketches: Farmer's Fireside, a poem'' Concord, NH: Hill and Moore, 1822 * Thomas C. Upham. ''Elements of Mental Philosophy.'' Two volumes. Boston and Portland, 1831.
Thomas C. Upham. ''The Manual of Peace, Embracing, I. Evils and Remedies of War; II. Suggestions on the Law of Nations, III. Considerations of a Congress of Nations''. New York: Leavitt, Lord and Co., 1836).
* Thomas C. Upham. ''American Cottage Life, A Book of Poems.'' Boston: American Tract Society., 1850.
Thomas C. Upham. ''Principles of Interior or Hidden Life''. 8th ed. New York: Harper Bros., 1858

Thomas C. Upham. ''Life of Catharine Adorna''. New York: Harper Bros., 1864.
(biography of St. Catherine of Genoa)
Thomas C. Upham. ''Mental Philosophy. Vol. 1. The Intellect''. New York: Harper Bros., 1869

Thomas C. Upham. ''Mental Philosophy. Vol. 2. The Sensibilities and Will''. New York: Harper Bros., 1869

Thomas C. Upham. ''Life and Religious Opinions and Experience of Madame Guyon''. (2 vols.) New York: Harper Bros., 1877

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Upham, Thomas Cogswell 1799 births 1872 deaths American educators American male poets American pacifists American psychologists American tax resisters