Scott, ^A7■illiam D., a minister of the IMethodist Episcopal Cluirch, South, was born in jMecklenburg County, Va., Feb. 1808. He graduated at the Medical University, Pliiladelphia, March 2, 1830, moved to Tren- ton, and engaged in the practice of his profession. He was licensed to preach Aug. 15, 1840; admitted into the
SCOTT
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travelling ministry in 1841 ; ordained deacon Nov. 6, 1842, and elder Nov. 25, 1844. In 1845, because of (ail- ing health, he was superannuated, and in 1850 became effective again; but in 1851 he was once more superan- nuated, and held that relation until his death, Oct. 3, 1874. We record here as a part of his history that he bequeathed a hundred acres of land each to the Van- derbilt University and the Indian Mission Conference. See Minutes of Annual ConjWences, 1874, p. 63.
Scott, William M., D.D., an eminent Presbyte- rian divine and educator, was born in Jefferson County, ()., in 1817. He graduated at .Jefferson College, Pa., and at Princeton Theological Seminary, N. .J., in 184t). He was licensed by the West Lexington Presbytery, and in 1847 was elected professor of languages in Cen- tre College, Danville, Ivy. ; and, accepting a call of the First Presbyterian Church in that place, he was or- dained by the Transylvania Presbytery in 1848. In January, 1856, he became pastor of the Seventh Presby- terian Church, Cincinnati, O., which relation existed for two years, when, in 1859, the General Assembly elected him professor of Piblical literature and exegesis in the Theological Seminary of the North-west at Chicago, 111. His health had been gradually declining for some time, and in the autumn of 1861 he visited Princeton, N. J., where he hoped, among his kindred and friends, to recuperate his wasted energies; but his hopes were vain, and he died Dec. 22, 1861, at the residence of his father-in-law, Rev. Dr. Charles Hodge. The death of Dr. Scott produced a deep impression upon the Church. The board of directors of the Theological Seminary of the North-west ado|)ted a series of resolutions, and the presbytery of Chicago the following minute: "As a teacher, he was thorough and accurate. Much of his time was given to the work of instruction, and he had fully prepared himself for it. ... As an expounder of God's Word, he was at all times, whether in the lect- ure-room or the pul|)it, lucid, impressive, and evangeli- cal, attracting all by the originality and freshness of his views. As a presbyter, he loved the courts of the Church ; and being thoroughly conversant with the theory and practice of our system, he was an invalu- able member in all complex and difficidt cases:" See Wilson, Presb. Hist. A Imanac, 1863, p. 204. (J. L. S.)
Scottish Philosophy is an appellation currently applied to the method and principles of |)hilosophizing and also to certain positive doctrines which were taught by several professors in the imiversities of Sot)tlan(l. Prominent among these were Thomas Keid (1710-!)6); professor of philosophy in King's College, Aberdeen (1752-63), professor of moral philosophy in the Univer- sity of (ilasgow (1763-%) : Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), professor of moral philosophy in the University of Ed- inburgh (1785-1810); Dr. Tliomas Brown (1778-1820), colleague with Stewart as professor of moral philosophv (1810-20); and Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856), professor of logic and metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh (1836-56). Besiiles these cori/phmi of the Scottish school, others should be named who were more or less conspicuous in the various metaphysical discus- sions which preceded or accompanied the lectures and writings of these leaders, whether favorable or adverse ■ — viz.: Francis Hutcheson (1694-1747), professor of mor- al philosophy in the University of Glasgow (1729-46) ; George Turnbull (1698-1748), regent of Marischal Col- lege, Aberdeen (1721-27); David Hume (1711-76); Adam Smith (1723-90), professor of logic in the Uni- versity of Glasgow (1751), professor of moral philosophy in the same (1752-63) ; James Beattie (1735-1803), pro- fessor of moral philosophy in JMarischal College (1760- 1802); Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), professor of mor- al philosophy in the University of St. Andrew's (1823- 27), professor of theology in the University of Edin- burgh (1827-43); John 'Wilson (1785-1854). professor of moral philosophy in the University of Edinburgh (1820-54); and James Frederick Ferrier (1808-64), pro-
fessor of moral philosophy in the University of St. An- drew's (1845-64).
Of all these. Dr. Thomas Reid, by common consent, is the central, if not the most eminent, person in what is known distinctively as the Scottish school. He was the first to give a definite statement and a positive form to the princiiiles which have given it a character and a name. He was aroused to this by the conclusions which were derived by Berkeley and Hume from certain funda- mental doctrines of Locke's Essay which had been gen- erally accepted as beyond questiiin. Prominent among these were his doctrines of representative ideas in sense- perception and his definition of knowledge, as also the as- sertion that sensation and reflection are the only sources of knowledge. These principles had been used by Berkeley, with certain additions of his own, to demon- strate that the material world is known to us only as a system of ideas which are made steadfast and trustwor- thy so far as they are held in being by the act and in the mind of (iod. Hume pushed Berkeley's argument one step furtlier, and proved that we have no more direct and certain knowledge of spirit than we have of mat- ter; and, moreover, that the relation of causation can- not be derived from either sensation or reflection, and is resolvable into custom, or the habitual association of ideas. Hume had also astonished and offended the community by his views of morality, miracles, and the usually accepted argument for the existence of God. Against these views, Reid asserted the doctrine of the direct perception of material qualities, and the positive suggestion or belief of material ol)jects. He also insist- ed that there are certain original principles of belief which cannot be derived from either sensation or re- Hection. These he called First Truths, First Principles, Princi|)les of Common-sense, etc. Hence the Scottish philosophy was very generally styled the "Common- sense Philosophy." Under this designation it was ex- pounded in a popular treatise by James Oswald (o&. 1793) and James Beattie (1735-1803). The principal works of Reid were, Inquin/ into the Human Mind, or Principles of Common^sense (Lond. 1763) ; Essays on the Intellectual Powers ofxlfan (1785); Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788).