Page:(1856) Scottish Philosophy—The Old and the New.pdf/9

Rh. Philosophy is not traditional. As a mere inheritance it carries no benefit to either man or boy. The more it is a received dogmatic, the less is it a quickening process. But without pursuing that subject any farther, I shall take permission to say, that in my humble opinion the patrons had no right to decide the late election on any other grounds than those of evidence. And this evidence, I conceive, they should have looked for in the general philosophical reputation of the candidates, in the contents of their testimonials, and in the names of the testifiers. I may be pardoned for hinting that they should have attended principally to the evidence in favour of performance, and not in favour of promise; and above all, that they should have given weight to attestations in support of originality, and invention, and decision, and independence in speculative thinking; for if there is to be any life in our future philosophy, or if any good is to come from her teachings, it can only proceed from a quarter where these qualifications, in some degree, exist. Ought they not, moreover, to have known, and taken into account, the difference between writing philosophy, and writing about it?

Perhaps the Edinburgh Town Council were of opinion, that the old Scottish philosophy is truer than the new, and probably their judgment that it is so may have helped them to their decision. As this opinion may possibly, in some small degree, affect the acceptability of my system with more people than the Town Council, I must be permitted to consider on what grounds it has been formed. Was it formed by the Council for themselves from the study of the two philosophies, the Old and the New? or was it received at second-hand from others in whom they placed their trust? Probably their judgment, as to the truth and soundness of the new philosophy, was determined by a mixture of the two—the latter influence being predominant in its formation. I shall speak presently in regard to the character and representations of their instructors. Meanwhile, I shall say a word or two of a very general kind, in respect to the truth of my system, as contrasted with the truth of our antecedent philosophy.