Observations on the Zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin, M. D.

Edinburgh: Printed for Mundell & Son, 1798. xxiv, 560pp. Octavo (140 x 215mm). Contemporary speckled calf with gilt rules to the boards and gilt dentelles along the edges of the boards; gilt decorations to the spine, as well as gilt lettering stamped to a black morocco spine label. Speckled edges. Silk placeholder. Some wear to the boards, mostly to the edges of the boards. Book plate of Agnew Bart of Lochnau to the front pastedown. Ex-libris of Darwin bibliographer, Richard Freeman, with his pencil notation to the ffep. British metaphysician whose work marks a turning point in the history of the commonsense school of philosophy. Between 1792 and 1803 Brown studied philosophy, law, and medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he met the philosopher Dugald Stewart and the founders of the Edinburgh Review. After practicing medicine briefly, Brown was deputy lecturer for Stewart (1808–09) and became joint professor of moral philosophy with him in 1810. </p><p>From Stewart, who was the chief expositor of the views of Thomas Reid (1710–96), a Scottish philosopher of common sense, Brown accepted many of Reid's arguments that were characteristic of the school. Brown modified some tenets of the school and rejected others, thus standing at the dividing point between two factions. The group led by Brown was oriented toward sense perception and was supported by John Stuart Mill and Alexander Bain; the other group, represented by Sir William Hamilton, sought to introduce the views of various German Idealist philosophers and thereby direct attention away from sensations and toward thought processes. 1798