Ferrier, who was supported by Hamilton in the competition for the moral philosophy chair in Edinburgh when Professor Wilson retired, and with whom Hamilton (as he assured the writer of this article) was long in the habit of consulting, published the " Institutes of Metaphysic," which is a complete revolt against the whole Scottish philosophy; and Kant was not more annoyed with the idealism of Fichte than Hamilton was with the " Object plus Subject " of Ferrier.
There has been an able review of him from the stand-point of Hegel by Mr.Sterling.But the most formidable attack was made on him in 1865 by John Stuart Mill in his "Examination of the Philosophy of Sir William Hamilton." The physiological psychologists and materialists of the present day are seeking to turn away the attention from him.
William Hamilton was born in the dingy Professors'
Court of Glasgow College, March 8, 1791.He was the son of Dr.Thomas Hamilton, professor of anatomy and natural history in that college, and, it is worthy of being noted, physician to the family of Thomas Reid.He was the lineal descendant of Sir Robert Hamilton, the not very wise commander of the Covenanters at Drumclog, and through him, of the Hamiltons of Preston, who claim to be descended from the second son of the progenitor of the Duke of Hamilton;and he succeeded in {423} establishing his claim to the title of Sir William Hamilton.Having lost his father in early life, he was boarded for some time with the Rev.Dr.
Summers, the parish minister at Mid Calder, and was afterwards sent to a school at Bromley, where he was taught classics in the thorough old English style.He entered the University of Glasgow in 1803, attended three winters, and there studied logic under Jardine, and moral philosophy under Mylne, standing at the head of his class in both departments, by the votes of his fellow-students -- the method of determining honors at that time when competitive examinations had not been exalted into so exclusive a place.
By this time he had become an irregular, but most insatiable devourer and also an eager collector of books -- in the end his library amounted to nearly ten thousand volumes.In 1807he was sent up on the Snell foundation to Oxford, and entered Balliol College.Here he took his share in the boating and other gymnastic exercises, but entered with far more eagerness into the study of Aristotle, the favorite of Oxford at that time." His manner of reading was characteristic.He had his table, chairs, and generally his floor strewed with books; and you might find him in the midst of this confusion studying with his foot on a chair, poising one great folio on his knee, with another in his hand.His mode of 'tearing out the entrails of a book,' as he termed it, was remarkable.A perusal of the preface, table of contents, and index, and a glance at those parts which were new to him, which were few, were all that was necessary." The paper which he gave in at his examination for the degree was preserved as being singular:
"Divinity: Aristotle's Philosophy of Man.
"Theoretical: De Anima, &c.
"Practical-Moral-Ethic: Nic., Mag., Cic.Op.Ph.
Domestic: OEcon.Civil: De Republ.