History of Philosophy at Edinburgh
Philosophy has been taught at the University since its foundation in 1583. The University, founded by the Edinburgh Town Council, was first known as the College of Edinburgh or The Town's College. Students studied under one Regent for their entire four-year course, until Professorships were introduced in 1708, including the Chair of Ethics & Moral Philosophy and the Chair of Logic & Metaphysics (see below). At this time the curriculum for a Master's of Arts consisted of Latin (year one), Greek (year two), "Ethical and Pneumatical Philosophy" (ethics, theology, and philosophy of mind, later "Moral Philosophy," year three), and Natural Philosophy (year four), with optional lectures in Logic & Metaphysics and Mathematics. By the Universities Act of 1858, the patronage of the Chairs, previously in the gift of the Town Council, was transferred to seven Curators of Patronage.
Edinburgh has a distinguished place in the history of philosophy. David Hume was a student at the University between 1722 and 1726, and lived in Edinburgh for most of his life. (He was passed over for the Chair of Ethical and Pneumatical Philosophy, in 1745, on grounds of atheism.) Adam Smith delivered public lectures at the University between 1748 and 1751, which were sponsored by The Philosophical Society, later the Royal Society of Edinburgh (of which two present-day members of the philosophy faculty, Professor Andy Clark and Professor Duncan Pritchard, are members). Smith composed An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) at his home in nearby Kirkaldy. Adam Ferguson and Dugald Stewart, both leading figures of the 18th Century Scottish Enlightenment (along with Hume and Smith), were members of the University's philosophy faculty. Other members have included Sir William Hamilton, A. E. Taylor, Norman Kemp Smith, John Macmurray and W.H. Walsh.
Chair incumbents
Chair of Moral Philosophy
| Dates | Name |
|---|---|
| 1708 | William Law |
| 1729 | William Scott |
| 1734 - 1745 | John Pringle |
| 1745 - 1754 | William Cleghorn (David Hume unsuccessful) |
| 1754 - 1764 | James Balfour |
| 1764 - 1785 | Adam Ferguson |
| 1785 - 1820 | Dugald Stewart |
| 1810 - 1820 | Thomas Brown (conjoint professor) |
| 1820 - 1851 | John Wilson (wrote journalism as 'Christopher North') |
| 1853 | P.C. McDougall |
| 1868 | Henry Calderwood |
| 1898 | James Seth |
| 1924 - 1941 | Alfred Edward Taylor (performed duties till 1944) |
| 1944 - 1957 | John Macmurray |
| 1959 | Winston Herbert Frederick Barnes |
| 1964 - 1973 | Harry Burrows Acton |
| 1975 - 1996 | Ronald Hepburn |
| 1999 - 2004 | Rae Langton |
Chair of Logic and Metaphysics
| Dates | Name |
|---|---|
| 1708 | Colin Drummond |
| 1730 | John Stevenson |
| 1774 | John Bruce |
| 1786 | James Finlayson |
| 1808 | David Ritchie |
| 1836 - 1856 | William Hamilton |
| 1856 | Alexander Campbell Fraser |
| 1891 - 1919 | Andrew Seth (from 1898 known as 'Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison') |
| 1919 - 1945 | Norman Kemp Smith |
| 1945 - 1960 | Arthur David Ritchie |
| 1960 - 1976 | William Henry Walsh |
| 1979 - 1989 | Timothy Sprigge |
| 1995 - 2000 | Timothy Williamson |
| 2000 - 2003 | Huw Price |
| 2004 - | Andy Clark |