Samuel Bailey
Encyclopedia
Samuel Bailey was a British
philosopher
and writer
. He was called the "Bentham
of Hallamshire
".
on 5 July 1791, the son of Joseph Bailey and Mary Eadon. His father was among the first of those Sheffield merchant
s who went to the United States to establish trade
connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired with an ample fortune from all business concerns, with the exception of the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was chairman
for many years. Although an ardent liberal
, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions he stood for Sheffield as a "philosophic radical
", but without success.
His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. He died suddenly on 18 January 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town trustee
s of Sheffield for public use.
and his school.
His next publications also were on economic
or political
subjects, Rationale of Political Representation (1835), and Money and its Vicissitudes (1837). About the same time also appeared some of his pamphlet
s, Discussion of Parliamentary Reform, Right of Primogeniture Examined, Defence of Joint-Stock Banks. In 1842 appeared his Review of Berkeley
's Theory of Vision which called forth rejoinders from John Stuart Mill
in the Westminster Review
and from James Frederick Ferrier
in Blackwood's Magazine
. Bailey replied to his critics in a Letter to a Philosopher (1843), &c.
In 1851 he published Theory of Reasoning, a discussion of the nature of inference
, and an able criticism of the functions and value of the syllogism
. In 1852 he published Discourses on Various Subjects; and finally summed up his philosophic views in the Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind (three series, 1855, 1858,1863). The Letters contain a discussion of many of the principal problems in psychology
and ethics
. Bailey can hardly be classed as belonging either to the strictly empirical
or to the idealist
school, but his general tendency is towards the former. (1) In regard to method, he founds psychology
entirely on introspection
. He thus, to a certain extent, agrees with the Scottish School, but he differs from them in rejecting altogether the doctrine of mental faculties
. What have been designated faculties are, upon his view, merely classified facts or phenomena of consciousness
. He criticizes very severely the habitual use of metaphor
ical language in describing mental operations. (2) His doctrine of perception
, which is, in brief, that "the perception of external things through the organs of sense is a direct mental act or phenomenon of consciousness not susceptible of being resolved into anything else," and the reality of which can be neither proved nor disproved, is not worked out in detail, but is supported by elaborate and sometimes subtle criticisms of all other theories. (3) With regard to general and abstract idea
s and general proposition
s, his opinions are those of the empirical school
, but his analysis frequently puts the matter in a new light. (4) In the theory of morals
, Bailey is an advocate of utilitarianism
(though he objects to the term "utility" as being narrow and, to the unthinking, of sordid content), and works out with great skill the steps in the formation of the "complex" mental fact
s involved in the recognition of duty
, obligation
, right
. He bases all moral phenomena on five facts: (1) Man is susceptible to pleasure
(and pain
); (2) he likes (or dislikes) their causes; (3) he desires to reciprocate pleasure and pain received; (4) he expects such reciprocation from others; (5) he feels more or less sympathy with the same feelings in his fellows (cf. Letters, 3rd series).
In 1845 he published Maro a poem in four canto
s (85 pp., Longmans), containing a description of a young poet
who printed 1000 copies of his first poem, of which only 10 were sold. He was a diligent student of Shakespeare, and his last literary work was On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings and its Improvement (1862).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He was called the "Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
of Hallamshire
Hallamshire
Hallamshire is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, in the current city of Sheffield.The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Hallam" originating from a formation meaning "on the rocks"...
".
Life
Samuel Bailey was born at SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
on 5 July 1791, the son of Joseph Bailey and Mary Eadon. His father was among the first of those Sheffield merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s who went to the United States to establish trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired with an ample fortune from all business concerns, with the exception of the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was chairman
Chair (official)
The chairman is the highest officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is typically elected or appointed by the members of the group. The chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an...
for many years. Although an ardent liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions he stood for Sheffield as a "philosophic radical
Radicals (UK)
The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...
", but without success.
His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. He died suddenly on 18 January 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
s of Sheffield for public use.
Thought
His first work, Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions, published anonymously in 1821, attracted more attention than any of his other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, Essays on the Pursuit of Truth. Between these two were Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, &c. (1823), and a Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value (1825), directed against the opinions of David RicardoDavid Ricardo
David Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
and his school.
His next publications also were on economic
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
or political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
subjects, Rationale of Political Representation (1835), and Money and its Vicissitudes (1837). About the same time also appeared some of his pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
s, Discussion of Parliamentary Reform, Right of Primogeniture Examined, Defence of Joint-Stock Banks. In 1842 appeared his Review of Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
's Theory of Vision which called forth rejoinders from John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
in the Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
and from James Frederick Ferrier
James Frederick Ferrier
James Frederick Ferrier was a Scottish metaphysical writer. He introduced the term epistemology.-Education and early writings:Ferrier was born in Edinburgh, the son of John Ferrier, writer to the signet...
in Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
. Bailey replied to his critics in a Letter to a Philosopher (1843), &c.
In 1851 he published Theory of Reasoning, a discussion of the nature of inference
Inference
Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true. The conclusion drawn is also called an idiomatic. The laws of valid inference are studied in the field of logic.Human inference Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions...
, and an able criticism of the functions and value of the syllogism
Syllogism
A syllogism is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is inferred from two or more others of a certain form...
. In 1852 he published Discourses on Various Subjects; and finally summed up his philosophic views in the Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind (three series, 1855, 1858,1863). The Letters contain a discussion of many of the principal problems in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
. Bailey can hardly be classed as belonging either to the strictly empirical
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
or to the idealist
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
school, but his general tendency is towards the former. (1) In regard to method, he founds psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
entirely on introspection
Introspection
Introspection is the self-observation and reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires and sensations. It is a conscious and purposive process relying on thinking, reasoning, and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and, in more spiritual cases, one's soul...
. He thus, to a certain extent, agrees with the Scottish School, but he differs from them in rejecting altogether the doctrine of mental faculties
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
. What have been designated faculties are, upon his view, merely classified facts or phenomena of consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
. He criticizes very severely the habitual use of metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
ical language in describing mental operations. (2) His doctrine of perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
, which is, in brief, that "the perception of external things through the organs of sense is a direct mental act or phenomenon of consciousness not susceptible of being resolved into anything else," and the reality of which can be neither proved nor disproved, is not worked out in detail, but is supported by elaborate and sometimes subtle criticisms of all other theories. (3) With regard to general and abstract idea
Idea
In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images...
s and general proposition
Proposition
In logic and philosophy, the term proposition refers to either the "content" or "meaning" of a meaningful declarative sentence or the pattern of symbols, marks, or sounds that make up a meaningful declarative sentence...
s, his opinions are those of the empirical school
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
, but his analysis frequently puts the matter in a new light. (4) In the theory of morals
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
, Bailey is an advocate of utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
(though he objects to the term "utility" as being narrow and, to the unthinking, of sordid content), and works out with great skill the steps in the formation of the "complex" mental fact
Mental fact
Mental facts include such things as perceptions, feelings, and judgments. Mental facts are ultimately caused by physical facts, in that mental facts depend on physical and biological functions which are required for consciousness. The physical and biological processes which are necessary for...
s involved in the recognition of duty
Duty
Duty is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition...
, obligation
Obligation
An obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, and possibly...
, right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
. He bases all moral phenomena on five facts: (1) Man is susceptible to pleasure
Pleasure
Pleasure describes the broad class of mental states that humans and other animals experience as positive, enjoyable, or worth seeking. It includes more specific mental states such as happiness, entertainment, enjoyment, ecstasy, and euphoria...
(and pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...
); (2) he likes (or dislikes) their causes; (3) he desires to reciprocate pleasure and pain received; (4) he expects such reciprocation from others; (5) he feels more or less sympathy with the same feelings in his fellows (cf. Letters, 3rd series).
In 1845 he published Maro a poem in four canto
Canto
The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...
s (85 pp., Longmans), containing a description of a young poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
who printed 1000 copies of his first poem, of which only 10 were sold. He was a diligent student of Shakespeare, and his last literary work was On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings and its Improvement (1862).
Works
- Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions (1821). Google (NYPL) IA (UToronto)
- 2nd edition, 1826. IA (UCal) Philadelphia, 1831. IA (UCal)
- 3rd edition, 1837. Google (NYPL) Google (UMich) Boston, 1854. Google (NYPL) IA (UCal)
- Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, Metaphysics, &c. (1823). Google (NYPL) IA (UToronto)
- A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value (1825). Google (Harvard)
- A Letter to a Political Economist (1826). [Pamphlet, 101 pp.] Google (Oxford) Google (UCal) IA (UCal) IA (UToronto)
- Essays on the Pursuit of Truth, &c. (1829). Google (Harvard) Google (Oxford) Philadelphia, 1831. Google (Harvard)
- 2nd edition, 1844. Google (Oxford) IA (UCal)
- Discussion of Parliamentary Reform (1831). [Pamphlet, 55 pp.]
- The Rationale of Political Representation (1835). Google (NYPL) Google (Oxford) Google (Stanford) IA (UToronto)
- Right of Primogeniture Examined (1837). [Pamphlet, 60 pp.]
- Money and Its Vicissitudes in Value (1837). Google (UCal) IA (UCal)
- Defence of Joint-Stock Banks (1840). [Pamphlet, 100 pp.]
- A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision (1842). Google (Harvard) Google (UMich)
- Letter to a Philosopher in Reply to Some Recent Attempts to Vindicate &c. (1843). [Pamphlet, 68 pp.]
- Maro; or, Poetic irritability (1845). Google (Oxford)
- The Theory of Reasoning (1851). Google (UCal) IA (UCal) 2nd ed., 1852. Internet Archive
- Discourses on Various Subjects (1852). Google (Harvard) Google (Oxford) Google (UMich)
- Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1855–1863).
- First series, 1855. Google (Harvard) Google (NYPL) Google (Oxford) IA (UToronto)
- Second series, 1858. Google (NYPL) IA (UCal) IA (UToronto)
- Third series, 1863. IA (UToronto)
- On the received text of Shakespeare's dramatic writings and its Improvement (1862–1866). 2 volumes.
- Volume 1, 1862. Google (Oxford) IA (UToronto)
- Volume 2, 1866. Google (Oxford)