Philosophical Works of the Late James Frederick Ferrier/Lectures on Greek Philosophy (1888)/Introductory Notice
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.[1]
James Frederick Ferrier, son of John Ferrier, W.S., grandson of James Ferrier, an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott, was born in Edinburgh, June 16, 1808. His mother, Margaret, was sister of Professor John Wilson; his aunt, Susan Ferrier, honoured by the high praise and the friendship of Scott, was the authoress of ' Marriage,' ' Destiny,' and ' The Inheritance.' He received his early education in the manse of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, where he lived in the family of the Rev. Dr Duncan. Here first was awakened in his mind the lively interest and affection which he never lost for Virgil, Ovid, and the Latin poets in general: he often spoke in later life of the new source of delight then opened to him in these authors. He also retained through after years a warm attachment both to his earliest place of instruction and to the two sons of his earliest teacher. He studied later at the Edinburgh High School, and under Dr Burney at Greenwich. He attended Edinburgh University for sessions 1825-26 and 1826-27. He went as a fellow-commoner to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1831; and became an advocate at Edinburgh in 1832. Of his pursuits for the next five or six years there is little direct evidence, but to this period belongs mainly the foundation of his strong passion for metaphysical research. It was probably the desire of studying more effectively the German masters of speculative thought that led him to spend several months of the year 1834 at Heidelberg. He had early selected this pursuit as the most attractive and congenial to his powers; and as far as his devotion to it may have needed for its full growth sympathy and encouragement from another mind, such nourishment was amply supplied by his intimacy with Sir William Hamilton. This intimacy, commencing in 1831, ripened into a warm friendship, and continued thoroughly cordial and affectionate, both in agreement and in difference on philosophical questions. In one of his early essays Ferrier expresses his ardent admiration of this great teacher (see vol. ii. p. 300), and in a later treatise, principally directed against some of Sir William Hamilton's positions, he speaks thus of him: "He has taught those who study him to think, and he must stand the consequence, whether they think in unison with himself or not. We conceive, however, that even those who differ from him most would readily own that to his instructive disquisitions they were indebted for at least half of all they know of philosophy." A tribute of loving reverence to Hamilton's memory, written soon after his death, will be found in vol. i. pp. 488-90.
The silent workings of home influences had tended not the less surely to arouse and widen his intellectual sympathies. Having relations on both sides so highly gifted with literary ability, it is not surprising that Mr Ferrier should have combined with his metaphysical predilections a powerful and at the same time discriminating interest in all varieties of mental culture. Letters still preserved show how frank and cordial was the intercourse, which lasted till her death in 1854, between him and his aunt, Susan Ferrier. It would be superfluous to enlarge upon the warm admiration which he always felt and avowed for his uncle, John Wilson, whose son-in-law he became in 1837, and whose literary remains he was busily engaged in editing during the years 1856, 1857, and 1858. He used to express himself, speaking of Wilson, in some such terms as these—"I find, well as I knew him, that I can hardly even now bring up to myself a real picture of what he was in his brightest moods, far less could I hope to communicate the truth to others who had not known him."
His uncle's house presented many opportunities to Mr Ferrier of mixing in society that included names of high political and literary eminence. From this conversation the seed that fell upon the youthful mind of such a listener would bring forth rich fruit of observation and reflection in after hours. He used to describe a meeting in the summer of 1825, when he saw together at Elleray, Wilson's residence near the Lake of Windermere, Scott, Wordsworth, and Canning, as among the most radiant memories of his life. A darker association was to colour his latest remembrance of the great Novelist, not many years after this date. "He used to refer with emotion to one sad occasion when he came immediately in contact with the author of 'Waverley.' It was on that gloomy voyage when the suffering man was conveyed to Leith from London, on his return from his ill-fated foreign journey. Mr Ferrier was also a passenger, and scarcely dared to look on the almost unconscious form of one whose genius he so warmly admired."[2] It may be there are those who will in coming years speak to their children of similar feelings awakened in themselves, as they watched a feeble frame, whose worn features revealed, amid the light of piercing intellect, acute suffering held down by heroic endurance, in the quiet town of St Andrews.
To philosophy he ever gave his first and unwavering devotion; he doubtless felt himself, and it will probably be allowed by discerning judges, that the genuine interest which he maintained to the last in literature not technically or nominally philosophical, made him in no way less able to preserve his primary allegiance unalloyed. He read works of imagination with deep imaginative sympathy: a strong poetical element in his own nature responded vividly to the subtlest touch of all true poetry. His numerous contributions to ' Blackwood's Magazine ' attest to what extent the various sides of literature possessed attractions for him. For special mention may be selected,—The Translation of Tieck's Pietro d'Abano, in August 1839; of Deinhardstein's Picture of Danae, September 1841; The Tittle-Tattle of a Philosopher, December 1841; and the Review of Miss Barrett's Poems, November 1844. To some among the many readers whose admiration for Mrs Browning's genius is deep and sincere, it may not be without interest to peruse an extract from this article, written at a time when her extraordinary powers were far less generally recognised than now:—
"If the poetess does not always command our unqualified approbation, we are at all times disposed to bend in reverence before the deep-hearted and highly accomplished woman—a woman whose powers appear to us to extend over a wider and profounder range of thought and feeling than ever before fell within the intellectual compass of any of the softer sex. If we might venture to divine this lady's moral and intellectual character from the general tone of her writings, we should say, that never did woman's mind dwell more habitually among the thoughts of a solemn experience — never was woman's genius impressed more profoundly with the earnestness of life, or sanctified more purely by the overshadowing awfulness of death. She aspires to write as she has lived; and certainly her poetry opens up many glimpses into the history of a pure and profound heart which has felt and suffered much. At the same time, a reflective cast of intellect lifts her feelings into a higher and calmer region than that of ordinary sorrow. There are certain delicate and felicitous peculiarities in the constitution of her sensibilities, which frequently impart a rare and subtle originality to emotions which are as old, and as widely diffused, as the primeval curse. The spirit of her poetry appears to us to be eminently religious; not because we think her very successful when she deals directly with the mysteries of divine truth, but because she makes us feel, even when handling the least sacred subjects, that we are in the presence of a heart which, in its purity, sees God. In the writings of such a woman, there must be much which is calculated to be a blessing and a benefit to mankind. If her genius always found a suitable exponent in her style, she would stand unrivalled, we think, among the poetesses of England. . . .
"If any of our remarks have been over-harsh, we most gladly qualify them by saying that, in our humble opinion, Miss Barrett's poetical merits infinitely outweigh her defects. Her genius is profound, unsullied, and without a flaw. The imperfections of her manner are mere superficial blots which a little labour might remove. Were the blemishes of her style tenfold more numerous than they are, we should still revere this poetess as one of the noblest, of her sex; for her works have impressed us with the conviction, that powers such as she possesses are not merely the gifts or accomplishments of a highly intellectual woman, but that they are closely intertwined with all that is purest and loveliest in goodness and in truth."
In 1851, when Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, now Lord Lytton, was preparing to republish his translation of Schiller's Ballads, he frequently corresponded with Mr Ferrier, whose critical judgment and skill in detecting the finer shades of meaning in the {{hwe|inal|original} German he highly valued, as his dedication to the poems amply testifies.
Mr Ferrier's earliest public essay in metaphysical science consists of the papers, here republished, which, under the title " An Introduction to the Philosophy of Consciousness," he contributed to ' Blackwood's Magazine' in 1838 and 1839, "undertaking," as Sir William Hamilton said, "the solution of problems hitherto unattempted in the humbler speculation of this country." For some years after this he wrote occasional articles in that Magazine, and must have become in the meantime well known to many persons in Edinburgh as one who delighted in exploring questions that task powers of abstraction and subtle thought. In 1842 he was appointed Professor of Civil History in the University, an office at that time neither very laborious nor lucrative, and generally looked upon as likely to be a stepping-stone to some more important professorship. In session 1844-5, during Sir William Hamilton's severe illness, Mr Perrier acted as his substitute, and taught the class of logic and metaphysics for some time; his zeal and success in the discharge of this task are warmly acknowledged by Sir William in a testimonial given to Mr Perrier when applying for a chair in another university. In 1845 he was elected Professor of Moral Philosophy and Political Economy at St Andrews, and held that office till his death.
On two occasions he sought to obtain an appointment in Edinburgh; in 1852, on the resignation of his uncle, Professor Wilson, he became candidate for the professorship of Moral Philosophy, and in 1856 he sought to succeed to the chair of Logic and Metaphysics vacated by the death of Sir William Hamilton. On both occasions the voice of the electors determined otherwise; his name and his immediate influence as a teacher are destined to be pre-eminently associated with St Andrews.
While holding this office Mr Ferrier published, in 1848, a pamphlet (anonymous), entitled ' Observations on Church and State, suggested by the Duke of Argyll's Essay on the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland; ' and in 1858 a ' Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Advocate of Scotland on the Necessity of a Change in the Patronage of the University of Edinburgh.' He also continued to write occasional articles in ' Blackwood's Magazine,' which prove that his professional studies, ardently as they were pursued, did not entirely monopolise his attention.
In the earlier years of his professorship, his lectures seem to have been more devoted to setting forth and criticising the various schemes of mental and moral philosophy which have arisen since the time of Descartes and Locke, than to exhibiting in systematic order new views of his own, except in so far as this cannot be avoided in commenting on the doctrines of others. He wrote of his professional labours to a friend:—" I cancel and re-write about a third of my lectures every year; a circumstance which, if it proves that my lectures were bad to begin with, also proves that they have some chance of growing better." For two or three years before he published his ' Institutes of Metaphysic ' (in 1854), he had regularly developed to his hearers, proposition by proposition, the theory contained in that work. On this theory he frequently corresponded with his friends. It may fairly be presumed that in addressing a subtle metaphysical thinker, capable among few other Englishmen of estimating what had been done for philosophy by Kant, and better acquainted than most with the later labours of Kant's successors, Mr Ferrier would especially aim at aiding the impression which his own new speculations might produce, by distinctness and forcible lucidity in announcing them. For this reason there is inserted at a later page in this volume a letter[3] written to Mr De Quincey, who had for some time regarded Ferrier as the metaphysician of highest promise among his contemporaries in England or Scotland, and had expressed his conviction in a warmly eulogistic testimonial, which the letter gratefully acknowledges. Letters to various other friends remain, written about the same time on the same subject; but none more characteristic, or exhibiting in clearer outlines the nucleus of his theory.
This work reached a second edition in 1856. It called forth various criticisms, some of which he noticed in a pamphlet, entitled ' Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New,' published in 1856. When he composed this essay he believed that his views had been by many misunderstood, by some unfairly represented; and to this circumstance he partly attributed his failure to obtain the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics in Edinburgh. In some passages a warmth of feeling and expression was perceptible, not perhaps surprising in one who felt convinced that injurious and unwarranted misconceptions of his meaning had prevailed against him, but not altogether in harmony with the calmness best fitted to the treatment of philosophical questions, a quality which few thinkers could value more highly than Mr Ferrier himself.[4] It has been accordingly judged unnecessary to reproduce the whole of this pamphlet; anything that could needlessly give pain the Editors have thought it right to omit, while they hope that nothing essential or possessing significance for the vindication of the Author's system has disappeared from the remodelled form in which it is now presented to the reader, as 'Appendix to the Institutes of Metaphysic.'
His labours as a professor were prompted by unsparing energy; they were rewarded by one of the truest evidences of merit, the devoted sympathy and attachment of his pupils. To stimulate their minds to philosophic thought, to lead them to insight rather than tenacity of conviction, and empower them to think for themselves,—this, as the steady principle of his endeavours, is repeatedly set forth in his lectures, and undeviatingly ruled his practice. In all matters of College business his sound judgment and vigorous good sense were acknowledged and looked up to by his colleagues. His students felt sure there was not one among their professors to whose generous consideration of their feelings they might more confidently trust, or whose resolute assertion of all that was due to his own office they must more implicitly respect. They revered him as a guide to truth and wisdom, they loved him as an elder friend and fellow-labourer.
His devotion to contemplative study was so persistent and absorbing, that he was seldom induced to leave his home in St Andrews for excursions to any distant quarters. His friends both in Scotland and England had often to regret the rareness of the visits which he paid them, not only on their own account, but, as they believed, for his sake also. For they could not repress within them the strong persuasion that the intensity of his solitary labours in search of truth was wearing him out, and that whenever he could be induced to intermit the restless mental exercise, usually carried on far into the morning hours, such relaxation must prove beneficial to his general health. But for him philosophy had deeper charms than for most even of laborious and meditative inquirers. The "difficult air" which surrounds the top of the mountain of speculation, exhausting to common travellers in that high region, was to him as the daily breath of life. Those among his acquaintance for whom such abstruser pursuits had no attraction, could not but feel and acknowledge the largeness of mind and heart which enlivened his social intercourse, which sought for no display, but manifested itself in the readiness with which he entered alike into the common business and recreation of everyday life, and into all general topics of rational interest. The most devoted of all students, he was the last man to whom any one who knew him, or even casually met him, could have thought of applying the description of "pedant." In mixed company, his graceful courtesy, his rich and genial humour, and the fine unstrained benignity which, being heart-deep, inspired his whole manner, secured general admiration and goodwill. There was hardly a social meeting at St Andrews at which his presence, expected or unexpected, would not have been welcomed with genuine gladness; nor could any subject be mooted on which his views, however unobtrusively expressed, would not have been listened to with respectful attention.
His general appearance, and latterly his disinclination to any but the most moderate exercise, suggested the impression that his health was far from robust, but it seemed mostly to preserve an equable tenor till the first violent seizure which prostrated his strength, so that it never could be fully restored. This was an attack of angina pectoris, which came upon him (with nothing obvious to account for it) early in November 1861. For several hours he was considered to be in imminent danger, but the vital power was not entirely shattered; a temporary recovery took place, but the weakness which followed prevented him from continuing his lectures till some weeks later. At that time the largest apartment in his house was fitted up as a lecture-room, where his students met, it being judged unsafe for him to undergo the fatigue of moving daily as far as the College class-room. The date of several of his lectures on Greek philosophy shows how little he relaxed his exertions for the instruction of his class, notwithstanding this shock to his physical powers. And indeed those who conversed with him after this date on his favourite topics were aware that his subtlety and penetrating energy of thought were as vivid as ever. But it could hardly escape their notice that bodily infirmity was fast gaining ground upon him; his power of walking became less and less; a very short distance at times seemed to be too much for him; the ascent of a staircase would make him pant and appear overcome almost to exhaustion. Tendencies to asthma had long been observed; dropsical symptoms and affection of the heart assumed a threatening form.On the whole, after this first formidable attack it began to be manifest that life was but a continued unequal struggle against manifold besieging forces. From this time, though he often spoke hopefully of his state of health, he must have anticipated as far from improbable that any day or hour might bring a rapidly fatal onset of his malady. Towards his friends, during this interval, all that was sweetest in his disposition seemed to gain strength and expansion from the near shadow of death. He spoke of death with entire fearlessness, and though this was nothing new to those who knew him best, it impressed their minds at this time more vividly than ever. The less they dared to hope for his life being prolonged, the more their love and regard were deepened by his tender thoughtfulness for others, and the kindliness which annihilated all absorbing concern for himself. In many little characteristic touches of humour, frankness, beneficence, beautiful gratitude for any slight help or attention, his truest and best nature seemed to come out all the more freely; he grew, as it were, more and more entirely himself indeed. If ever a man was true to philosophy, or a man's philosophy true to him, it was so with Terrier during all the time when he looked death in the face and possessed his soul in patience. As the light of all his friendships shone ever with steadier brightness, past animosities sank out of sight. At a time when he was too ill to see any visitor, the card was brought to him of a former opponent on philosophical questions, whose criticisms of his views had been regarded by him as unjust, and had provoked some warmth of language in his reply to them, but who now called to inquire after his health. He was perceptibly touched by this mark of friendly feeling, and exclaimed, "That must be a good fellow!"
Twice in the course of the year 1863, in January and October, an assault of illness more than usually threatening had come on. He had, in the June of this year, travelled to London, to examine in philosophy the students of the London University, and had purposed doing so again in October; but after this attack it was obviously impossible. On the 31st of October, Dr Christison was consulted about his state, and pronounced his case to be past hope of remedy. He opened his class on the 1 1th of November in his own house, but during this month was generally confined to bed. On the 8th of December he was at tacked by congestion of the brain, and never lectured again. His class was conducted by Mr Rhoades, then Warden of the recently-founded College Hall, who, as many others among his colleagues would have been ready to do, willingly undertook the melancholy task of officiating for so beloved and honoured a friend. After this all severe study and mental exertion were forbidden. He became gradually weaker, with glimpses now and then of transitory improvement. So in unfailing courage and resignation, not unwilling to hope for longer respite, but always prepared to die, he placidly, reverently, awaited the close, tended by the watchful care of his devoted wife and children.
He breathed his last about eleven o'clock on the morning of Saturday the 11th of June 1864; his mortal remains were followed to the grave by many to whom his memory is dear, and rest near those of his father and grandfather in St Cuthbert's Church yard in Edinburgh.
What Ferrier was, is more surely treasured in the hearts of those who knew him than it can be livingly communicated in language to others: nevertheless it appears due to truth to record the utterances of some friends, who, from their constant and familiar inter course, had the best means of knowing and esti mating him aright. Contributions towards this end have been asked from a few, and granted with ready kindness.
Principal Tulloch, of St Mary's College, St Andrews, writes thus:—
"By the time I came to St Andrews (1854) Pro fessor Ferrier had reached the maturity of his powers, if not of his reputation. The 'Institutes of Metaphysic' were just published, and I had read the volume with great admiration, fascinated particularly by the boldness and brilliant subtlety of its specula tions. We soon formed a fast friendship; and as for some years we both remained at St Andrews, in sum mer as well as winter, we were in the habit of con stantly meeting together. His interest in intellectual discussions was unceasing; his love of books, and his appreciation of literature in all its higher forms, as fresh as that of a youth in the first flush of his studies, and a more delightful companion therefore could not be imagined. There are those who along with me, I am sure, can never forget the pleasantness of those early years in St Andrews, when our friend was still in vigorous health, and eager to encounter any disputant in his favourite subjects. The playful humour which he mingled with the most abstract discussions, the heights of metaphysical argument which he scaled so easily, and in the rare atmosphere of which he was able to sustain himself longer than any other disputant I ever knew, his genial and frank bearing, and the welcome and fairness of spirit with which he always met opposition, gave a great attraction to his conversation.
"Life in his study was Professor Ferrier's characteristic life. There have been, I daresay, even in our time, harder students than he was; but there could scarcely be any one who was more habitually a student, who lived more amongst books, and took a more special and constant delight in intercourse with them. In his very extensive but choice library he knew every book by head-mark, as he would say, and could lay his hands upon the desired volume at once. It was a great pleasure to him to bring to the light from an obscure corner some comparatively unknown English speculator of whom the University Library knew nothing.
"During the summer of 1863, the last of which he was to see the close, I was with him almost every day. At this time I was myself laid aside from systematic work of any kind, while his obviously failing health and incapacity to walk any distance without suffering invited companionship. His intellectual interest was as keen as ever, but the hope of doing much more was fast dying out. He reflected with satisfaction that he had completed his lectures on the Early Greek Philosophy, and he would fain have been spared for a renewed study of Plato, and a fresh and extended treatment of the Platonic Philosophy. He felt this to be no longer possible; but his mind naturally lingered round his favourite subject, and we spent the summer in reading together some of the Dialogues in which he formerly delighted, and had carefully pencilled with his notes. He took it into his head also to read through Virgil, and I used sometimes to join him in the evenings which he devoted to this purpose. The companionship was a great pleasure to me, and seemed in some degree to relieve the tedium of his bodily languor. The strength and patience of his character, and buoyant energy and varied activity of his mind, were never more conspicuous. We had many earnest conversations, too, about more solemn matters; for it is needless to say that a reason so inquisitive and reflective as Professor Ferrier's had pondered much on the subject of religion. He was unable to feel much interest in any of its popular forms, but he had a most intense interest in its great mysteries, and a thorough reverence for its truths, when these were not disfigured by superstition or formalism. His large thoughtfulness made him indifferent to minor matters, which to many minds represent so much of religion, and he had perhaps too vehement a dislike to certain aspects of pietistic activity; but he had true religious impulses; and Christian truth, expressed in a manly, straightforward, and unexaggerated manner, always impressed him. He was open to the light from whatever quarter it might come; but he also felt that there was much regarding which we must be content here to remain in darkness, and to await the solution of the future.
"There was at all times in Professor Ferrier's character great sweetness and a certain charm of loyal and chivalrous feeling, combined with passionate energy and decisiveness, amounting to obstinacy where his supposed rights or interests were involved. In the last years of his life these stronger features dropped out of sight, and all the gentle chivalry and forbearance of his nature came forth more prominently. He had for some time laid aside all ambition. He had forgiven his philosophical enemies, and even forgotten, as if it had never been, the painful crisis signalised by his pamphlet on the 'Old and the New Philosophy.' He was surrounded by those he loved, and by many attached friends who vied with each other in their respect and affection for him. He felt at the same time that his strength was rapidly failing, and that the end of his work was not far off. All this exerted a softening influence on his character, and brought out its finer traits. He had long known, there is reason to think, of his weakness, and that there was something mortal in it. He certainly had no faith that any change of scene or any appliance of medical skill would be of avail in his case; and so he quietly, steadily, and cheerfully faced the issue. There was a singular depth and immovableness in his cheerful patience. I do not think I ever heard him complain, and I have seen him in great languor and pain. He might give utterance to a half-playful, half-grim expression regarding his sufferings, but he never seemed to think there was anything strange in them, anything that he should not bear calmly as a man and as a Christian. Neither did he say much of unfinished work which he might have done, although such work had been formerly much in his heart. He expressed few regrets, he spoke of no fears. He looked heroically yet humbly into the future, and did such work as he could with interest and diligence to the end. On the very day before his final seizure, I believe, he was in his library, as was his wont, busy amongst his books.
"Many men can do good and able work in the world, but there are only a few anywhere, in any institution, who invest their work with that nameless personal influence which captivates while it instructs the young, which quickens their intellectual enthusiasm and expands and refines their feelings in the process of education. No one was ever more gifted with this rare endowment than Professor Ferrier. There was a buoyant and graceful charm in all he did, a perfect sympathy, cordiality, and frankness, which won the hearts of his students, as of all who sought his intellectual companionship. Maintaining the dignity of his position with easy indifference, he could condescend to the most free and affectionate intercourse; make his students, as it were, parties with him in his discussions, and while guiding them with a master-hand, awaken at the same time their own activities of thought as fellow-workers with himself. There was nothing, I am sure, more valuable in his teaching than this, nothing for which his students will longer remember it with gratitude. No man could be more free from the small vanity of making disciples. He loved speculation too dearly for itself, he prized too highly the sacred rights of reason, to wish any man or any student merely to adopt his system or repeat his thought. Not to manufacture thought for others, but to excite thought in others, to stimulate the powers of inquiry, and brace all the higher functions of the intellect, was his great aim. He might be comparatively careless, therefore, of small processes of drilling and minute labours of correction. These, indeed, he greatly valued in their own place. But he felt that his strength lay in a different direction, in the intellectual impulse which his own thinking, in its life, its richness, and clear open candour, was capable of imparting. He conducted his thinking, as it were, in broad day. The student could see every turn and winding of it; and the frankness of his manner gave a singular attraction to the frank boldness of his intellect, and more than anything, perhaps, explained the mingled love and admiration with which he was regarded. And yet, with all his easy cordiality, so manly was he, and so commanding the natural relations of his mind to others, that I do not fancy it could have entered into the head of even the most presumptuous student to take any liberty with him. If it was his happy power to stimulate enthusiasm and call forth interest in the young, he was no less able, in all circumstances, to preserve the most perfect order. And while he awakened affection, he never failed to secure respect."
Professor Shairp of St Andrews writes as follows:—
"In the autumn of 1857 circumstances connected with my appointment at St Andrews led to a long correspondence, which I have not preserved. But the one impression left on me was that of Ferrier's manliness, justness, and high honour, combined with the finest consideration and most delicate courtesy towards all concerned. Not to speak of personal gratitude towards him for having so smoothed the way through many practical difficulties, the whole tone of his letters left on me a delightful impression of his character. I need hardly say that my intercourse with him during the next seven years was entirely according to this beginning.
"Now and then, when I could, I used to go and hear him lecture ; I never saw anything better than his manner towards his students. There was in it ease, yet dignity so respectful both to them and to himself that no one could think of presuming with him. Yet it was unusually kindly, and full of a playful humour which greatly attached them to him. No one could be farther removed from either the Don or the Disciplinarian. But his look of keen intellect and high breeding, combined with gentleness and feeling for his students, commanded attention more than any discipline could have done.
"In matters of college discipline, while he was fair and just, he always leant to the lenient and forbearing side. He was peculiarly considerate of the students in all his dealings with them ; and by showing this markedly in his manner, I doubt not he called forth in those who perceived it some feeling akin to his own.
"Till his illness took a more serious form, he was to be met at dinner-parties, to which his society always gave a great charm. In general society his conversation was full of humour and playful jokes. A quick yet kindly eye to note the extravagances and absurdities of men. His remarks were especially racy on those whose enthusiasm outran their judgment, or who insisted on riding their own hobbies, or forcing their own idiosyncrasies on others who had no mind for them.
"Sometimes, when we found him in his library on a winter afternoon, he would begin talking of Horace, who was a special favourite of his. He used to amuse himself with translating some of the Odes into English verse, and he would now and then read what he had done in this way. These translations were always unconventional and racy, sometimes very felicitous in their turns. They brought out a vein of secret humour running through many of the Odes in which it had not been hitherto suspected.
"At other times I have heard him discourse of Wordsworth, and of the early feelings which that great poet had awakened in him. When he spoke on this and other kindred subjects he brought out a richness of literary knowledge, and a delicacy and keenness of appreciation, of which his philosophic writings, except by their fine style, give no hint. I used sometimes to think that the exclusively abstract line of thinking to which he had in his later years devoted himself, and the demonstrative form into which he had tried to cast his thoughts, had shut out the free play of those imaginative perceptions, with which, unlike most other living metaphysicians, he was by nature richly gifted.
"His malady, which no doubt he himself had known long before, first revealed itself fully to those beyond his own household by the severe illness with which he was attacked a few days after the installation of Mr Stirling of Keir as Lord Rector. At the dinner given on that occasion Mr Ferrier had, it was thought, caught a cold, which brought on a dangerous increase of heart-complaint. Though he rallied from this for a time, he never was as he had been before. Some more dangerous symptoms showed themselves in the summer of 1863; and I remember, on going to see him when we returned here in the autumn, that he spoke of his own health, not in a desponding tone, yet in a way that showed he had no hope of recovery.
"How he bore the long painful winter that followed you have heard from others, and yourself, I think, had opportunities of seeing. In the visits which I made to his bedroom from time to time, when I found him sometimes on chair or sofa, sometimes in bed, I never heard one peevish or complaining word escape him, nothing but what was calm and cheerful, though to himself as to others it was evident that the outward man was fast perishing. The last time but one that I saw him was on a Sunday in April; it must have been either on the 17th or 24th. He was sitting up in bed. The conversation fell on serious subjects, on the craving the soul feels for some strength and support out from and above itself, on the certainty that all men feel that need, and on the testimony left by those who have tried it most, that they had found that need met by Him of whose earthly life the Gospel histories bear witness. This, or something like this, was the subject on which our conversation turned. He paused, and dwelt on the thought of the soul's hunger. 'Hunger is the great weaver in moral things as in physical. The hunger that is in the new-born child sits weaving the whole bodily frame, bones and sinews, out of nothing. And so I suppose in moral and spiritual things it is hunger builds up the being.' This was the purport of what he said, though of the words I cannot be sure that I give them faithfully. This was the last time I ever conversed with him."
Professor Campbell of St Andrews says:—
"You have asked me for some personal recollections of my lamented and revered colleague, Professor Ferrier. Though I had seen him at St Andrews in 1854, and once again at Oxford, I date my acquaintance with him from the autumn of 1863, when I was a candidate for the Greek Chair at St Andrews, at a time when he had been already for some months a sufferer. On becoming settled at St Andrews we were most kindly received, notwithstanding his illness, by him and his family; and I have a grateful recollection of his lively interest, more welcome because unobtrusive, in my novitiate as a professor. He also asked me about the work which I had left, in which I said I had gained friendships which made life richer. He said—'You may find that here too.'
"During the early part of my first session, which was his last, while he was still able to meet his class in his own house, we had several conversations on philosophy, a privilege which after his illness in December could not be permitted me, though I had frequently the pleasure of seeing and of talking with him.
" At this time he was deeply interested in the study of the early Greek philosophers, and I remember his saying : ' I think what they were all driving at was to find something that will outlive us.' This was said with much earnestness, and I have now before me the still deeper expression of solemnity and veneration which passed over his countenance when, after speaking of the duality implied in all cognition, he added, 'And then in God also—to speculate about Him—in God also there must be duality, in so far as He knows Himself.' The tone in which these words were uttered made me feel that true reverence is without fear. I could understand, after hearing it, with what humble and fearless confidence he had said, when some religious question was discussed in his own family, 'I suppose I shall know about this by-and-by.'
"I will only add that, besides his fortitude and cheerfulness, which seemed perfect, there was a courtesy which never flagged or drooped, and a kindly interest, maintained until the last, in the most trifling occupations not only of his own family, but of their friends.
" Perhaps I might have said something of his wonderful popularity with the students, but of that you will have heard from others. His perfect courtesy, manhood, and native dignity were, with his stimulating intellect, the secret of their love for him.
" I am sorry that I cannot recall more of our brief intercourse, which I shall always be most thankful to have enjoyed."
Professor Veitch, formerly of St Andrews, now of Glasgow, may be quoted in conclusion.
"I first knew Mr Ferrier personally in the winter of 1860-61, as his colleague in the University of St Andrews. At that time his health, though good, was not robust. He seldom walked for recreation, spending his time almost exclusively, when not in his class-room, in his library among his books. Drawn to him partly by the interest of common studies, but quite as much by the attractive nature of the man, I very soon came to cherish for him the warmest affection. Refined, courteous, and genial, no speck of the pedantry which occasionally marks the man of recluse habits was visible in his manner. His devotion to abstract thought had in no degree dried up the freshness or limited the fulness of a mind that was from the first keenly susceptible of impressions from all that is highest and finest in nature and art. His early studies and training had been literary rather than philosophical; the beauty of form and style in which his thoughts were cast bore marks of this early culture.
"His one absorbing intellectual interest was abstract speculation, and that, above all, in the direction of metaphysics. He had a remarkable power, in conversation on metaphysical points, of testing and turning on all sides dogmas received or advanced. I shall ever look back with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret on the long evenings of two-handed discussion which we spent together during the four winters of my residence in St Andrews. For depth of natural interest in the highest speculative questions; for openness, candour, and withal subtlety of fence, I have met no one who has surpassed him. He had, as seemed to me, no great interest in the questions of psychology, or in the details of formal logic; and he had read but slightly in either department. But metaphysic was his delight and his strength. The problem of Being, what it is; how to be analysed; how made intelligible; to get its principle and deduce its forms — was the centre round which his whole thought turned. The solution of the problem which he worked out for himself penetrated his entire life and convictions. His metaphysics were less of a professional accomplishment, and more completely himself, than was probably the case with any man, excepting Hamilton, whom I have known. His interest in ethical speculations seemed to me to be entirely subordinate to his metaphysical; and any ethical doctrine which he reached took its cast from his demonstrative theory of knowledge and existence.
"The play of his intellect was fine, subtle, arrowy in its keenness and directness. His metaphysical system, whatever may be thought of its compass or truth, was clear as daylight through all its depths. It professed, indeed, to afford a level line of demonstration, on which, when once one sets out, there is no pause until the whole apparent mystery of reality is reached and cleared. His abstractions and refinements were lofty and subtle, but his imagination had always a concrete embodiment for the airiest and least palpable of them. The literary and artistic faculty, to which he had given free scope in his earlier days, was now the handmaiden of his intellect, and set the most abstract of his conceptions in luminous illustrations and exquisite shapes of poetry. He retained the mastery of a style, clear, idiomatic, and brilliant, which, even when he discoursed on metaphysics,
' Caught at every turn
The colours of the sun.'
More intellectually intense than excursive, more taken with the harmony and the march of demonstration than with the requirements and the facts of real life or the teachings of experience, he sought to determine by deduction from principles of reason the essential nature of things, and of existence in its greatest generality. 'Reasoned truth' was with him the highest, the only philosophy; in his entire intellect and interests he was the type of the philosopher of the abstract and deductive school.
"When I first became acquainted with Mr Ferrier his speculative ardour seemed to be leading him towards a principle of even higher abstraction than that of the 'Institutes.' The author at this time most congenial to his mode of thought was Hegel. He studied Hegel for certainly more than the last ten years of his life, without, as he himself used freely to acknowledge to the end, completely satisfying himself that he had mastered the Hegelian conception,—a fact worthy of note by the fluent praters about Hegel in these times. It was obvious, however, from his conversation, that during these latter years his thoughts were a good deal directed to the realisation of glimpses of this conception, and to its application in various ways. I doubt whether he had in this line reached a point that was entirely satisfactory to his own mind. His speculative efforts were, I suspect, purely tentative.
"As a Professor, he was equalled in power and influence by few who have occupied university chairs. He made men thinkers,—not, however, by any routine of drill or discipline, but by his hold of his subject, the wonderful clearness and force of his prelections, and the outflowing of his personality into all that he said and did. The respect, affection, and obedience of his class were given to him spontaneously as a tribute of loyalty to the man.
"Ferrier's was altogether a strong nature, one in which were blended high and rare qualities, yet harmoniously vigorous. To force of intellect there were added depth of feeling and strength of will; resolution which, once taken, was indomitable. But never were stern qualities set amid more genial surroundings, or united with greater kindliness, courtesy, warmth, and steadiness of affection. Socially, he was one of the most pleasant, interesting, and attractive of men. No description will ever enable one who was a stranger to him personally to realise the depth of humour and the raciness of wit which were in him. This was quite a part of the man, spontaneous and irrepressible in its outflowings, breaking forth often when least expected, so as to relieve the dulness, it might be, of college deliberations, or infuse pleasantry into the occasional fierceness of university polemics.
"He is now with us no longer; the soul that struggled so hard with the hardest things for human thought has passed away after an afflicting illness, that was borne most touchingly, most heroically. We miss the finely-cut, decisive face, the erect manly presence, the measured meditative step, the friendly greeting; but there are men, and Ferrier was one of them, for whom, once known, there is no real past. The characteristic features and qualities of such men become part of our conscious life; memory keeps them before us living and influential, in a higher, truer present which overshadows the actual and visible."
To his friend and son-in-law, Sir Alexander Grant, was intrusted the disposal and revisal of Mr Ferrier's manuscript compositions. Fitted alike by his interest in the subject, and his affectionate intimacy with the deceased, for the fulfilment of this pious duty, he readily accepted the task ; but his early return, after a few months' furlough, to the labour of an important office in India, compelled him to relinquish the actual publication. Another friend, who had the advantage of consulting unreservedly with Sir Alexander Grant, and being made fully acquainted with his views, undertook, in accordance with Mrs Ferrier's wishes, to prepare these volumes for the press. For the appearance of these lectures in their present form, and for the selection of such among his other writings as are here put together, the second editor alone is responsible.
The lectures on Greek Philosophy were mainly composed, or at least delivered in the shape into which Mr Ferrier finally brought them, about the year 1859. Before this year he had lectured on some periods of Greek Philosophy, and may in several cases have incorporated his earlier with his later lectures. Some parts of the remarks upon Aristotle bear the date 1857 and 1858; others again seem to have been written as late as February and March 1863. Of the discussion referring to the Stoics and Epicureans, some papers have marginal dates of 1857 and 1858, as well as later notices of 1860, 1861, and 1862. The earlier part, as far as the end of the Cyrenaic, Cynic, and Megaric schools, appears to have been more fully elaborated than what follows. His lectures up to this point were carefully written out in two bound manuscript volumes, of which the first bears the title, 'Lectures on the History of Greek Philosophy.—I. The Pre-Socratic Period. 1859-60;' and the second, 'Lectures on the History of Greek Philosophy.—II. The Socratic Period. 1860-61-62.' The remaining portion was mostly written on loose sheets; these were frequently revised and corrected: in some cases where later lectures have been incorporated with earlier ones, it is not easy to determine precisely how much of the earlier he intended to retain, or how much he considered superseded by the later. Here and there paragraphs are marked "Omit;" these the editor has judged right to exclude from the work, though not clearly certain whether the omission thus directed merely referred to the particular occasion of the lecture being delivered, or was meant to imply a purpose of rewriting or expunging the paragraphs. Some omissions have also been made of passages where the subject handled was not directly Greek Philosophy, but one which, though closely connected with it, has received full treatment in various other works; for instance, the lives of the more eminent philosophers. To include the biography of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, perfectly suitable as it was in lectures addressed to youthful learners, appeared unnecessary in a review of Greek Philosophy. This rule of exclusion, however, did not always seem applicable to the less illustrious occupants of a place in the history of metaphysical speculation. It appears from the MS. that the lecturer occasionally read to his class articles contributed by himself to the 'Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography.' Use has been made of this work, especially in the latter portion of the lectures. The lives of Schelling and Hegel are taken from the same publication, with the kind permission of the publisher, Mr Mackenzie, of Howard Street, Glasgow.[5]
The second volume contains the papers on philosophical subjects which Mr Ferrier published in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' and a few occasional lectures which appeared to deserve insertion, with one or two specimens illustrating his general literary faculty. It is probable that if he had republished these essays he would have remodelled and rewritten much ; possibly omitted many portions ; and it would be in nowise surprising if treatises composed at so early a stage in his speculative progress exhibit either a seeming or an actual discrepancy from his later and more matured opinions. It might indeed be matter for juster surprise if such difficulties did not frequently occur in the writings of any original thinker, when separated by a long interval in the date of their production. It should not be forgotten that what, seen from without, may present the look of a partial inconsistency, may often more justly from within be regarded as a reconciliation and union of two different aspects of truth. " There is nothing to retract, but much to carry forward, and which has been carried forward, as I trust one day to show," was an expression used by him in speaking of these papers. Whether the conflict between his earlier and later views be real or apparent, the editors have not felt themselves authorised to attempt any correction or amplification; these essays are left as they were originally written, with omission of one or two pages quite irrelevant to the purport of the argument. They believe this plan to be in accordance with the spirit which animated Mr Ferrier's own researches: for he was far too fearless and faithful a follower of truth to have hesitated for a moment to throw aside an opinion once held, if shown to be fallacious, or to doubt that from the collision of imperfectly discerned truths a spark might be struck out that would light to further insight. Those to whom the system of this philosopher, when brought nearer to maturity, presents matter of interest, will thus have the best assistance that can be supplied towards tracing its growth through successive stages; they are asked in return nothing but what every labour of thought has a right to claim from a reader, to understand each combination of ideas, where there can be room for doubt, according to their best admissible meaning.
Many may be of opinion that some regions into which the ocean of philosophic discovery spreads, have not been tracked with sufficient diligence by this explorer; such comparative incompleteness may render his system less valuable in the eyes of some than it will seem to others: there may be readers to whom its fundamental axioms are a stumbling-block. A few may dare to believe that in originality, depth, and truth, it is surpassed by no philosophy which this century has seen produced in Britain.
The sincere thanks of the editors are due to some of Mr Ferrier's early friends, who have kindly contributed the best help they could towards rendering this brief introduction less incomplete than it might have been; Professor Solly, of Berlin, and George Makgill, Esq. of Kemback, are entitled to especial acknowledgement.
POSTSCRIPT FOR THIRD EDITION.
As a slight indication or specimen of the reception which Ferrier's philosophy, when first published, met with in Germany, two translated extracts are subjoined. It would be easy, but it is unnecessary, to multiply such testimonies. The editors from time to time receive evidence that the impression made by Ferrier's philosophy has not been ephemeral, but that in Scotland, in England, and even in France, young minds are still captivated by Ferrier's manner and stimulated by his thought; and that mature and profound thinkers recognise in him a metaphysical genius whose
achievements the world will not willingly let die.
1. From a notice of Ferrier's 'Institutes of Metaphysic,' by Dr Wirth, one of the Editors of the 'Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik,' vol. xxx. p. 243 (1857):—
" We hail in this volume one of the cheering signs that English philosophy has raised itself above the one-sided empiricism which has long been predominant in it, to a higher standpoint of knowledge, uniting empiricism and idealism; at the same time a sign of the approach towards German idealistic speculation, noticeable too in other instances, among the deeper thinkers on the other side of the Channel. While our German philosophy has descended step by step from the ethereal height on which in earlier days Fichte's Idealism moved, till in some writers it has taken a completely sensualistic form, and so laid the foundation for the most determined materialism—a process analogous to the evolution of Greek philosophy in its second period, beginning with the idealism of Plato, and ending in sensualism, materialism, and lastly, a scepticism despairing of all knowledge — writings like this of Ferrier's seem to prove that, conversely, English philosophy, after taking an empirical startingpoint in Bacon, and being carried on farther in the same direction by Locke, is recently making an effort to take into itself the a priori and idealistic element of knowledge. Assuredly this tendency to unite the idealistic element with realism is so interesting and important a phenomenon, that we have every reason to take special notice of it in reviewing this work. The author endeavours throughout to raise himself above the antitheses in which abstract thought so easily becomes entangled, especially that of realism and idealism, and to grasp firmly their unity. . . . He is entirely in the right when he repels the charge that the law of cognition laid down by him is a one-sided or subjective-idealistic principle. He maintains that it never occurred to genuine idealism to deny that things really exist externally to ourselves. Idealism, he avers, not denying this, asks only what is meant by external, apart from all relation to an internal; and he proves that without this relation the word external has and can have no meaning." After a more detailed examination of the work, the reviewer states his aim to have been "to show that what I regard as the genuine fundamental idea of recent German philosophy is now opening a path for itself among our kinsmen the English; and I hope that the differences which I have expressed from the honoured author, if this notice meets his eye, will be regarded in the true light in which they seek to be regarded, as put forward not with the purpose of impugning that fundamental idea, but rather with the aim of throwing clearer light upon it from a nearly-related point of view."
2. From a notice of 'Lectures on Greek Philosophy,' &c, 2 vols., by Professor Hermann Ulrici, an Editor of 'Zeitschrift fur Philosophic und philosophische Kritik,' vol. liv. p. 185 (1869):—
"The 'Philosophical Remains' include not the whole but the best and most important portion of the writings on philosophy left by James Frederick Ferrier, Professor of Moral Philosophy and Political Economy at the University of St Andrews, who died 11th June 1864. We know the author through his 'Institutes of Metaphysic,' a work which even in England made a strong impression, and shortly after its appearance received a notice in this periodical which entered into and duly appreciated its views. We lament with the editors the premature death of this eminent man, whom we rank far higher than the newest celebrities for the day of English philosophy (J. S. Mill, A. Bain, &c.)—the more since he had the courage to do battle against the stream of shallow empiricism which English philosophy still follows, and which in consistency leads inevitably to one-sided materialism, sapping not only all ethical science, but all science whatever.
"The first volume contains almost exclusively lectures on the history of Greek philosophy, which Ferrier repeatedly delivered before the students of his University. He praises in the introduction Hegel and Zeller as the historians of philosophy who made the first successful attempt 'to grasp the inner soul rather than the external environment of bygone speculations, and to trace the logical concatenation of systems.' . . . The lectures are distinguished by abundant originality of conception, by clearness and thoroughness of exposition, and by the skill with which, entering into his hearers' standpoint and power of apprehension, they succeed in smoothing their road to the understanding of philosophy and its history. Pre-eminently directed to this end is a copious introduction on the essence and conception of philosophy. In this respect they may well be recommended to many of our historians, and to all who have to deliver lectures on the history of philosophy, as models worthy of careful study."
- ↑ This "Introductory Notice" (written by Professor E. L. Lushington, L.L.D.) was prefixed to the First Volume of Professor Ferrier's 'Lectures on the Early Greek Philosophy, and other Philosophical Remains,' in two volumes, 1866, and is here reprinted.
- ↑ Quoted from Principal Forbes's address to the Students of St Andrews, November 1864.
- ↑ This is now transferred to the end of the third edition of the Institutes of Metaphysic.'
- ↑ A characteristic extract from a letter to a friend may illustrate his deliberate judgment on this head. He wrote in 1851:—"One thing I would recommend, not to be too sharp in your criticism of others. No one has committed this fault oftener, or is more disposed to commit it, than myself; but I am certain that it is not pleasing to the reader, and after an interval it is displeasing to oneself. In the heat and hurry of writing a lecture I often hit a brother philosopher, as I think, cleverly enough, but on coming to it coolly next year I very seldom repeat the passage. I am not, however, charging you with this fault, but merely putting you on your guard against it."
- ↑ Several other articles in this work are from the pen of Mr Ferrier, and may be distinguished by having his initials affixed. Among those likely to interest the general reader may be noticed Adam Smith, Swift, and Schiller.