John Watson (philosopher)
Encyclopedia
Life
John Watson was born in Glasgow, ScotlandScotland
Scotland 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...
in 1847. He attended the Free Church School in Kilmarnock, then enrolled at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. Within a month, however, he was drawn to the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
by the reputations of the brothers John Caird
John Caird
John Caird FRSE was a theologian, born at Greenock and educated at Greenock Academy and Glasgow University...
, professor of divinity, and Edward Caird
Edward Caird
Edward Caird FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and younger brother of the theologian John Caird.He was the son of engineer John Caird, the proprietor of Caird & Company,...
, professor of moral philosophy. On completion of his studies in 1872, he was appointed on the basis of the recommendation of his mentor Edward Caird
Edward Caird
Edward Caird FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and younger brother of the theologian John Caird.He was the son of engineer John Caird, the proprietor of Caird & Company,...
to the Chair of Logic, Metaphysics, and Ethics at Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
in Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Caird had written that "Watson is perhaps a man of the 'driest light' that I know. I do not know anyone who sees his way more clearly through any philosophical entanglements." He spent the remainder of his career at Queen's and died in Kingston in 1939. Among his works are Kant and his English Critics, Christianity and Idealism, and The State in Peace and War. He was the Gifford Lecturer
Gifford Lectures
The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...
for 1910-1912 at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
after which his lectures were published as The Interpretation of Religious Experience. He was a charter member of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
. Watson Hall at Queen's University is named after him.
Philosophy
Watson’s philosophy, which he called Speculative or Constructive Idealism, continued the Hegelian critique of Kant as pursued by Thomas Hill GreenThomas Hill Green
Thomas Hill Green was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G.W.F. Hegel...
, Francis Herbert Bradley, and especially his by teacher at the University of Glasgow, Edward Caird
Edward Caird
Edward Caird FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and younger brother of the theologian John Caird.He was the son of engineer John Caird, the proprietor of Caird & Company,...
. The main distinction between his position and that of Kant’s Critical Idealism is that while both maintain that the universe is rational and that reason is self-harmonious, Critical Idealism denies that either of these propositions can be established on the basis of knowledge, while Speculative Idealism contends that the opposition of the theoretical and practical reason is fatal to both positions. While Critical Idealism falls back upon certain “postulates” of the moral consciousness in support of “faith,” Speculative Idealism refuses to accept the antithesis of faith and knowledge, theoretical and practical reason, maintaining that a faith which is not identical with reason, a theoretical reason which is not in harmony with practical reason, is beset by an inherent weakness, which is sure to betray itself under the most searching of all tests, the test of self-criticism.
All that exists is rational and in principle knowable. The degree to which it is known reflects both evolution and history. The human being possesses as a result of evolution a principle of rationality that makes it possible to comprehend the rationality of the world and to master it. Watson argued that this capacity could not, however, have resulted from natural selection. By contrast, human evolution, especially as continued in history, represents a transcendence of nature, “the gradual realisation of reason in the individual and in society, and the gradual comprehension of the meaning of both when viewed in their relation to the world and God”.
Religion and Moral Philosophy
God is the absolute. The absolute is inadequately conceptualized as substance, power, person -- although Watson found “personality” more fitting, though still inadequate – or super rational. The absolute is the identity of subject and object, the repository of universal reason itself, the very rationality that is manifest in the world and increasingly revealed to conscious, reflective human beings. Morality is acting rationally; and as reason ultimately governs both, there is no real conflict between individual and societal interests. Evil, or immorality, is the failure to act rationally owing to ignorance or confusion. Watson's liberal theology had a significant influence on the Social Gospel movement and the formation of the United Church in Canada in 1925.Political Theory
Watson’s social thought is pervaded with a communitarianism deriving from his doctrine of the in-principle identity in reason of individual and common goods. Thus he summarizes his position on the State as existing “for the purpose of providing the external conditions under which all the citizens may have an opportunity of developing the best that is in them, and the success with which this aim is achieved is a test of the perfection of a community.”Works by John Watson
- Kant and his English Critics. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1881.
- Hedonistic Theories from Aristippus to Spencer. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1895.
- Christianity and Idealism. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1897. (Reprinted with additions, August, 1897.)
- The Philosophical Basis of Religion. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1907.
- The Philosophy of Kant Explained. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1908.
- An Outline of Philosophy. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1908.
- The Interpretation of Religious Experience (2 vols.). Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1912.
- The State in Peace and War. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1919.
- Selections from Kant. Glasgow: Jackson Wylie & Co., 1927.
Further Reading
- McKillop, A. B. A Disciplined Intelligence: Critical Inquiry and Canadian Thought in the Victorian Era. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University PressMcGill-Queen's University PressThe McGill-Queen's University Press is a joint venture between McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario....
, 1979. - McKillop, A. B. Matters of Mind: The University in Canada 1791-1951. Toronto: University of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
, 1994. - Sibley, Robert C. Northern Spirits: John Watson, George Grant, and Charles Taylor: Appropriations of Hegelian Political Thought. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008.
- Rabb, J. D. Religion and Science in Early Canada. Kingston: Ronald P. Frye & Co., 1988.