Francis Hutcheson

Author of An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue

About the Author

The founder of moral sense theory was born in County Down, Ireland. Francis Hutcheson's father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers, and he studied at the University of Glasgow from 1711 to 1717 in preparation for the Presbyterian ministry. For the next decade, he taught at an academy for show more dissenting clergy in Dublin, most of the time serving as its head. He was appointed professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow in 1730, a position he held until his death. Hutcheson's principal contributions to philosophy were in the fields of moral philosophy and aesthetics. His chief works are Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Philosophiae Moralis Institutio (1742), and the posthumously published System of Moral Philosophy (1755). Against the English rationalists Samuel Clarke and Richard Price, Hutcheson rigorously developed Shaftesbury's suggestion that moral distinctions are made by our sensitive rather than our rational nature. In aesthetics he gave an analogous account of our sense of beauty. Hutcheson's theories profoundly influenced Hume and also had a significant impact on Kant in his precritical period. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the name: Francis Hutcheson

Works by Francis Hutcheson

An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections, with Illustrations on the Moral Sense (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics) (1728) 76 copies

Philosophiae Moralis Institutio Compendi (2006) 61 copies

Logic, Metaphysics, And the Natural Sociability of Mankind (2006) 46 copies

Philosophical Writings (Everyman's Library (Paper)) (1994) 27 copies

Illustrations on the Moral Sense (1971) 14 copies

Hutcheson: Two Texts on Human Nature (1993) 10 copies

Correspondence and Occasional Writings (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics) (2022) 8 copies

Synopsis metaphysicae, ontologiam et pneumatologiam complectens (2010) 4 copies, 1 review

Reflections upon laughter, and remarks upon the Fable of the bees (2009) 3 copies

MEDITATIONS OF M.A. ANTONINUS (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics) (2008) 2 copies

Selections from the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense (2017) 2 copies

A System of Moral Philosophy (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics) (2025) 2 copies

A system of moral philosophy, publ by F. Hutcheson. To which is prefixd some account of the author, by W. Leechman 1 copy

De naturali hominum socialitate 1 copy

Una investigación sobre el origen de nuestra idea de belleza 1 copy

Inquiry into Beauty and Virtue 1 copy

Philosophiae moralis institutio compendiaria, libris III. Ethices et jurisprudentiæ naturalis elementa continens. Auctore Francisco Hutcheson, ... Editio altera auctior et… (2010) 1 copy

Treatise II. An Inquiry concerning Moral Good & Evil 1 copy

Thoughts on Laughter (1989) 1 copy

Four Early Works on Motivation (History of psychology series) (1969) 1 copy

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Associated Works

Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy [Norton Critical Edition] (1973) — Contributor — 282 copies, 2 reviews

Western Philosophy: An Anthology (1996) — Author, some editions — 218 copies, 1 review

British Moralists 1650-1800, Vol. 1 Hobbes-Gay (1991) — Contributor — 23 copies

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epaterson 2 reviews

Synopsis metaphysicae, : ontologiam et pneumatologiam complectens by Francis Hutcheson

Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) was one of the leading philosophers of the 'Scottish Enlightenment'. He was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University for the sixteen years before his death, and influenced such people as the economist Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, Thomas Reid, Lord Kames, and Edward Synge. The American politician, Thomas Jefferson, was sufficiently impressed by Hutcheson's teachings that he introduced into the American Declaration of Independence the phrase 'the pursuit show more of happiness', which Hutcheson believed was a human aim. 'A System of Moral Philosophy', as a textbook for government, human responsibility,and the justice system, is as relevant today as it was when it was written. As this edition is printed in the format of the eighteenth century, where the letter 's' looks like an 'f', it is a little harder to read, but it is worth-while reading all the same. - Iain Esslemont in Amazon review, https://www.amazon.ca/System-Moral-Philosophy-Book-One/dp/1628451769#customerRev... Nov. 2012. show less

Jul 4, 2021