James Hutchison Stirling

James Hutchison Stirling (22 June 1820 – 19 March 1909) was a British philosopher.

Biography

Stirling was born in Glasgow, and educated there and at Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, which he practised until the death of his father in 1851, after which he devoted himself to philosophy.^[1]

His The Secret of Hegel (1865) gave great impetus to the study of the Hegelian philosophy both in Britain and in the United States, and was also accepted as a work of authority in Germany and Italy.^[1]

Frederick Copleston (A History of Philosophy vol. VII, p. 12) wrote "...we may be inclined to smile at J. H. Stirling's picture of Hegel as the great champion of Christianity."

Stirling died in Edinburgh.

Selected publications

Other works:^[1]

• Sir William Hamilton (1865)
• The Secret of Hegel (1865)
• Text-book to Kant (1881)
• Philosophy and Theology (1890) (Gifford Lectures)^[2]
• Darwinianism: workmen and work (1894) - In this work Stirling recollects views on Darwin's theory of evolution, including that of Thomas Brown and others, stating: "it is the theory involved which it is also my endeavour, with all honour, to refute." Stirling states "it is not by any means necessary that an evolutionist should be also a Darwinian."
• What is Thought? or the Problem of Philosophy (1900)
• The Categories (1903).

More concerned with literature:

• Jerrold, Tennyson, and Macaulay (1868)
• Burns in Drama (1878)
• Philosophy in the Poets (1885).

Notes

References

• Stirling, James Hutchison (1890). "Philosophy and Theology 1889–1890". 

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Stirling, James Hutchison". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource 

External links

• " Stirling, James Hutchison". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. Wikisource. 1910 
•  "Stirling, James Hutchison". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 
• James Hutchison, 1820-1909, on the Internet Archive, where the above works are available in multiple formats
• James Hutchison Stirling : his life and work, by Amelia Hutchison Stirling (1912)