John Veitch (October 24, 1829 - September 3, 1894),
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, philosopher, and
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
, son of a
PeninsularThe Peninsular War was a contest between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars...
veteran, was born at
PeeblesPeebles is a burgh in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders, lying on the River Tweed. According to the 2001 Census, the population was 8,159....
, and educated at
Edinburgh UniversityThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
.
He was assistant lecturer successively to Sir William Hamilton and
Alexander Campbell FraserAlexander Campbell Fraser was a Scottish philosopher.Born at Ardchattan, Argyll, he was educated at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where, from 1846 to 1856, he was professor of Logic at New College...
(1856-60). In 1860 he was appointed to the chair of
logicLogic, from the Greek λογική is the art and science of reasoning. More specifically, it is defined by the Penguin Encyclopedia to be "The formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning". As a discipline, logic dates back to Aristotle, who established its...
,
metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
and
rhetoricRhetoric is one of the arts of using language as a means to persuade. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public...
at
St AndrewsThe University of St Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland and third oldest in the English-speaking world, having been founded between 1410 and 1413...
, and in 1864 to the corresponding chair at Glasgow.
In philosophy an
intuitionistIn the philosophy of mathematics, intuitionism, or neointuitionism , is an approach to mathematics as the constructive mental activity of humans. That is, mathematics does not consist of analytic activities wherein deep properties of existence are revealed and applied...
, he dismissed the
idealistIdealism is the philosophical theory that maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception...
arguments with some abruptness, and thereby lost much of the influence gained by the force of his personal character. He will be remembered chiefly for his work on Border literature and antiquities. See
Memoir by his niece, Mary RL Bryce (1896).
Publications
- translations of Descartes
René Descartes , , also known as Renatus Cartesius , was a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic...
' Discours de la méthode (1850) and Méditationes (1852)
- an edition of Sir William Hamilton's lectures with memoir (1869, in collaboration with HL Mansel
Henry Longueville Mansel was an English philosopher.He was born at Cosgrove, Northamptonshire ....
)
- Tweed, and other Poems (1875)
- History and Poetry of the Scottish Border (1877; ed. 1893)
- Hamilton (1882)
- Institutes of Logic (1885)
- Knowing and Being (1889)
- Merlin (1889)
- Dualism and Monism (1895)
- Border Essays (1896).