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ALEXANDER BAIN (1818-1903)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 222 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEXANDER See also:BAIN (1818-1903)  , Scottish philosopher and educationalist, was See also:born on the 11th of See also:June 1818 in See also:Aberdeen, where he received his first schooling . In See also:early See also:life he was a See also:weaver, hence the punning description of him as Wee-See also:vie, rex philosophorum . In 1836 he entered Marischal See also:College, and came under the See also:influence of See also:John Cruickshank, See also:professor of See also:mathematics, See also:Thomas See also:Clark, professor of See also:chemistry, and See also:William See also:Knight, professor of natural See also:philosophy . His college career was distinguished, especially in See also:mental philosophy, mathematics and physics . Towards the end of his arts course he became a contributor to the See also:Westminster See also:Review (first See also:article " Electrotype and Daguerreotype," See also:September 1840) . This was the beginning of his connexion with John See also:Stuart See also:Mill, which led to a life-See also:long friendship . In 1841 he became substitute for Dr Glennie, the professor of moral philosophy, who, through See also:ill-See also:health, was unable to See also:discharge the active duties of the See also:chair . This See also:post he occupied for three successive sessions, during which he continued See also:writing for the Westminster, and also in 1842 helped Mill with the revision of the MS. of his See also:System of See also:Logic . In 1843 he contributed the first review of the See also:book to the See also:London and Westminster . In 1845 he was appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the Andersonian University of See also:Glasgow . A See also:year later, "preferring a wider See also:field, he resigned the position and devoted himself to See also:literary See also:work . In 1848 he removed to London to fill a post in the See also:board of health, under See also:Edwin See also:Chadwick, and became a prominent member of the brilliant circle which included See also:George See also:Grote and John Stuart Mill .

In 1855 he published his first large work, The Senses and the See also:

Intellect, followed in 1859 by The Emotions and the Will . These See also:treatises won for him a position among See also:independent thinkers . He was examiner in logical and moral philosophy (1857-1862 and 1864-1869) to the university of London, and in moral See also:science in the See also:Indian See also:Civil Service See also:examinations . In 186o he was appointed by the See also:crown to the new chair of logic and See also:English in the university of Aberdeen (created on the amalgamation of the two colleges, See also:King's and Marischal, by the Scottish -See also:Universities See also:Commission of 1858) . Up to this date neither logic nor English had received adequate See also:attention in Aberdeen, and See also:Bain devoted himself to supplying these deficiencies . He succeeded not only in raising the See also:standard of See also:education generally in the See also:north of See also:Scotland, but also in forming a school of philosophy and in widely influencing the teaching of English See also:grammar and See also:composition . His efforts were first directed to the preparation of English textbooks: Higher English Grammar (1863), followed in 1866 by the See also:Manual of See also:Rhetoric, in 1872 by A First English Grammar, and in 1874 by the See also:Companion to the Higher Grammar . These See also:works covered a large field and their See also:original views and methods met with wide See also:acceptance . But the other subject of his chair also called for attention . His own philosophical writings already published, especially The Senses and the Intellect (to which was added, in 1861, The Study of See also:Character, including an Estimate of See also:Phrenology), were too large for effective use in the class-See also:room . Accordingly in 1868, he published his Manual of Mental and Moral Science, mainly a condensed See also:form of his treatises, with the doctrines re-stated, and in many instances freshly illustrated, and with many important additions . The year 1870 saw the publication of the Logic .

This, too, was a work designed for the use of students; it was based on J . S . Mill, but differed from him in many particulars, and had as distinctive features the treatment of the See also:

doctrine of the conservation of See also:energy in connexion with See also:causation and the detailed application of the principles of. logic to the various sciences . His services to education in Scotland were now recognized by the conferment of the honorary degree of See also:doctor of See also:laws by the university of See also:Edinburgh in 1871 . Next came two publications in " The See also:International Scientific See also:Series," namely, Mind and See also:Body (1872), and Education as a Science (1879) . All these works, from the Higher English Grammar down-wards, were written by Bain during his twenty years' professoriate at Aberdeen . To the same See also:period belongs his institution of the philosophical See also:journal Mind; the first number appeared in See also:January 1876, under the editorship of a former See also:pupil, G . Croom See also:Robertson, of University College, London . To this journal Bain contributed many important articles and discussions; and in fact he See also:bore the whole expenses of it till Robertson, owing to ill-health, resigned the editorship in 1891, when it passed into other hands . Bain resigned his professorship in 188o and was succeeded by William See also:Minto, one of his most brilliant pupils . Nevertheless his See also:interest in thought, and his See also:desire to See also:complete the See also:scheme of work mapped out in earlier years, remained as keen as ever . Accordingly, in 1882 appeared the See also:Biography of See also:James Mill, and accompanying it John Stuart Mill: a See also:Criticism, with See also:Personal Recollections .

Phoenix-squares

Next came (1884) a collection of articles and papers, most of which had appeared in magazines, under the See also:

title of See also:Practical Essays . This was succeeded (1887, 1888) by a new edition of the Rhetoric, and along with it, a book On Teaching English, being an exhaustive application of the principles of rhetoric to the criticism of See also:style, for the use of teachers; and in 1894 he published a revised edition of The Senses and the Intellect, which contain, his last word on See also:psychology . In 1894 also appeared his last contribution to Mind . His last years were spent in privacy at Aberdeen, where he died on the 18th of September 1903 . He married twice but See also:left no See also:children . Bain's life was mainly that of a thinker and a See also:man of letters . But he also took a keen interest and frequently an active See also:part in the See also:political and social movements of the See also:day; and so highly did the students of Aberdeen See also:rate his practical ability, that, after his retirement from the chair of logic, they twice in See also:succession elected him See also:lord See also:rector of the university, each See also:term of See also:office extending over three years . He was a strenuous See also:advocate of reform, especially in the teaching of sciences, and supported the claims of See also:modern }See also:languages to a See also:place in the curriculum . A See also:marble bust of him stands in the public library and his portrait hangs in the Marischal College . Wide as Bain's influence has been as a logician, a grammarianand a writer on rhetoric, his reputation rests on his psychology . At one with Johannes See also:Miller in the conviction psychologus memo nisi See also:physiologus, he was the first in See also:Great See also:Britain during the Igth See also:century to apply See also:physiology in a thoroughgoing See also:fashion to the elucidation of mental states . He was ` the originator of the theory of psycho-See also:physical See also:parallelism, which is used so widely as a working basis by modern psychologists .

His See also:

idea of applying the natural histbry method of See also:classification to psychical phenomena gave scientific character to his work, the value of which was enhanced by his methodical exposition and his command of See also:illustration . In See also:line with this, too, is his demand that psychology shall be cleared of See also:metaphysics; and to his See also:lead is no doubt due- in great measure the position that psychology has now acquired as a distinct See also:positive science . Prof . Wm . James calls his work the " last word " of the earlier See also:stage of psychology, but he was in reality the See also:pioneer of the new . Subsequent psycho-physical investigationshave all been in the spirit of his work; and although he consistently advocated the introspective method in psychological investigation, he was among the first to appreciate the help that may be given to it by See also:animal and social and See also:infant psychology . He may justly claim the merit of having guided the awakened psychological interest of See also:British thinkers of the second See also:half of the 19th century into fruitful channels . He emphasized the importance of our active experiences of See also:movement and effort, and though his theory of a central innervation sense is no longer held as he propounded it, its value as a See also:suggestion to later psychologists is great . His autobiography, published in 1904, contains a full See also:list of his works, and also the See also:history of the last thirteen years of his life by W . L . See also:Davidson of Aberdeen University, who further contributed to Mind (See also:April 1904) a review of Bain's services to philosophy . oWorks (beside the above) :—Edition with notes of See also:Paley's Moral Philosophy (1852) ; Education as a Science (1899) ; See also:Dissertations on leading philosophical topics (1903, mainly reprints of papers in Mind) ; he collaborated with J .

S . Mill and Grote in editing James Mill's See also:

Analysis f the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1869), and assisted in editing rote's See also:Aristotle and See also:Minor Works; he also wrote a memoir pre-fixed to G . Croom Robertson's Philosophical Remains (1894) .

End of Article: ALEXANDER BAIN (1818-1903)
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