Dualism and monism
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| John Veitch |
Collection of philosophical essays
Contents:
- Realism And Common-sense . . 3
- Phenomenon; Phenomenalism . . 21
- The Independence Of Things . . 49
- Being And Law . . . .76
- Phenomenal Monadism . . .87
- History, And The History Of Philosophy 119
- Hegel's View. . . . .136
- What Remains Of The Hegelian View? 154
- The Theism Of Wordsworth . . .175
Unique though his strong personality was, Professor Veitch's life presents none of those dramatic incidents, so-called, which are calculated to startle or arrest the general public. He was a pure scholar and thinker, singularly devoid of craving either for fame or for any of the more solid re- wards that sometimes fall to a lot of men of high intellectual attainments. Diffident in temperament, when not aroused by a sense of duty, and essentially shy — a feature which was concealed, as with many similarly constituted, by a certain brusqueness of manner — his services to his university, to his colleagues and others, and to several public associations, have not become known as they otherwise might. It was sufficient. for him, to take an example, that the exceptionally valuable library of his master. Sir William Hamilton, should pass into the safekeeping of Glasgow University, without any special recognition or record of his part in the transference.
No doubt it was better thus. For, although many details which might redound to his credit are consequently awanting, the interest of his life concentrates upon his position as what one may term uUwius Scotorum. A Borderer by birth and by affectionately nurtured lifelong association, entirely Scotch by academic training, Mr. Yeitch had been fitted beyond most to appreciate the conditions and requirements of a Scottish philosophical professorship.
" The interest and eagerness of the Scotch student," he writes, " the large class, the sympathy of numbers, the readiness for hard thought, and the disinterestedness of feeling, are the elements on which the Professor is privileged to work. He has the opportunity, simply by the character of his prelections from the chair, of quickening and inspiring his students in philosophical studies, and giving them a connected, comprehensive, and systematic view of his department — such as can be accomplished equally well under no other arrangement. If he fails to do this, the fault is his own." His sense of the value of this arrangement in the past was the secret of his untiring hostility to any but the most circumspectly considered changes. From his own experience of it also arose his deep feeling for the personnel of his classes. Few could have felt more sympathy for the students.
In his own life, he had learned their varied and peculiar difficulties — their frequent poverty, their occasional lack of preparation, their sometimes misdirected zeal. Yearning is the word that best conveys his attitude. And thus it was that, in spite of the undoubted unpopularity of the philosophy which he taught, there was no one to whom, in later life, former pupils more readily turned when they stood in need either of material assistance or of advice.
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