Some Occupants of the Chair of Moral Philosophy (1747-1983)

Thomas Chalmers, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1823-8

Thomas Chalmers was a social reformer who played a large part in matters of the Church in Scotland (in particular in the Disruption of 1843) in the early nineteenth century. He was born in Anstruther (a fishing village on the coast of Fife) in 1780 and entered the University of St Andrews at the age of 12, became a minister of religion in 1799 and was remembered as a great preacher. He was elected to the Chair of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews in 1823 but left it for the Chair of Theology in Edinburgh in 1828. His lectures at St Andrews are partly reproduced in his Essays in Moral Philosophy.

It was made in Glasgow in the date year 1931-32, by an unidentified maker (F+B). It is in silver.

The inscription reads: 

"Presented to St Salvator's Hall by Bailie William Watson Carstairs J.P.,Magistrate of Anstruther, in commemoration of service to Scotland rendered by Thomas Chalmers D.D., L.L.D., A native of Anstruther, a student in the University of St Andrews and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the United College from 1823 to 1828."
 

James Frederick Ferrier, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1845-64

James Ferrier was born in Edinburgh in 1808. He studied at the University of Edinburgh from 1825-27 and at the University of Oxford from 1827-31. He was strongly influenced by Sir William Hamilton. He was elected to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in 1845 and held it until his death in 1864. He was an absolute idealist, a follower of Bishop Berkeley, and invented the term "epistemology" (theory of knowledge) in his translation of Fichte.

For further information, see The Philosophical Works of James Frederick Ferrier by John Haldane.

William Angus Knight, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1876-1903

William Knight was the prime mover in the foundation of the Scots Philosophical Club in 1900. Originally, membership was restricted to holders of Chairs of Philosophy in the Scottish universities, but was later extended to include all members of staff in those departments, and further associate members.

The portrait opposite was commissioned by the University and presented to Professor Knight in 1899 by LLAs (Ladies Literate in Arts - graduates of the University's LLA course). Knight was extremely influential in the field of women's education and had been the prime author of the University's LLA scheme, which entitled women to enter for examinations, and looked forward to the eventual admission of women to full membership of the University. Knight presented the portrait to the University in 1900.

Knight was recorded as living in Edgecliffe East (since the 1960s in the possession of the University and now home of the Department of Logic and Metaphysics) in the 1891 census, with his wife, son, daughter, cook and housemaid. (Edgecliffe West, now the home of the Department of Moral Philosophy, was a boarding-house for students and scholars.) In his Biographical Introduction to The Literature of the Georgian Era by William Minto (1895), Professor of Logic at Aberdeen, who died in 1893, Knight remembers happy conversations with Minto in Edgecliffe (p.xi).

Bernard Bosanquet, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1903-8

Bosanquet (1848-1923) was not only a philosopher but also a political theorist and social reformer. He was one of the principal exponents (with F.H. Bradley) of late nineteenth and early twentieth century 'Absolute Idealism'. He held the Chair of Moral Philosophy in St. Andrews from 1903-8.

A.E. Taylor, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1908-24

Taylor was a classical scholar and occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews from 1908-24.
 
 

David Morrison, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1924-36

David Morrison was born in Dundee and originally intended a legal career, but he was so taken with philosophical study that, having spent part of his youth in France, he studied at the Sorbonne, then in Jena, where he studied educational theory under Eucken, and in Freiburg-im-Breisgau, before returning to study in St Andrews. He won the Berry Scholarship and lectured on Schopenhauer, Herbart and Lotze, before returning to study psychology, ancient philosophy and moral philosophy in Berlin and Strasburg. In 1905 he became G.F. Stout's assistant in editing the philosophical journal Mind. In 1910-11 he took on the demanding role of Organising Secretary for the 500th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the University of St Andrews. During the First World War he worked in Naval Intelligence and then in the Foreign Office, writing and editing the Handbook on the Sudan. He was appointed Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Dundee (later Dundee University) in 1919, and in 1924 he succeeded Taylor in the Chair of Moral Philosophy. He was responsible for the organisation of a scheme of adult education lectures in Central Scotland. He died in post in April 1936 at the age of 68. In his obituary, it was said of him: "Few men had the power of demolishing, by a phrase or a sentence, views which were unpalatable, and to the "clever" young man he was merciless. The serious Scottish tradition of philosophic training can ill afford to lose men of his type"; and in a memorial tribute: "His life was governed by zeal for learning [and] by an unaffected interest in the welfare of students."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Opposite is a placque in rememberance of Morrison which is in the Western Cemetery (on the east wall) on the western outskirts of St. Andrews.

Sir Malcolm Knox, Chair of Moral Philosophy 1936-53

Sir Malcolm Knox, translator of Hegel, held the Chair of Moral Philosophy from 1936 until 1953. He was at that time Vice-Principal, and on the Principal's death in office, Knox became Principal of the University of St Andrews, until its bifurcation into the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee in 1966, after which he is reported to have said that he could not preside over half a university.

Tony Woozley, photographed by Mary Bernard

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