ONLY DANISH EDITION AF ANY PART OF MILL'S "EXAMINATION"
MILL, JOHN STUART.
Om Troen Paa En Ydre Verden. En Psykologisk Undersøgelse.
Kjøbenhavn, 1889.
8vo. Contemporary blue half cloth with gilt title and gilt lines to spine. A bit of wear along hinges and capitals, but overall very nice. Also internally fresh and clean. (2), VI, (2), 78, pp.
"On the Belief in an External World: A Psychological Study", which comprises the first Danish translation of two chapters and respective appendix from "An Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy" (1865) by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), one of the most influential English language philosophers of the 19th century. The translated chapters are the following: "The Psychological Theory of the Belief in an External World" (chapter XI), "The Psychological Theory of the Belief in Matter, How Far Applicable to Mind" (chapter XII), along with "Appendix to the two preceding chapters". This Danish edition has an introduction by the Danish philosopher Kristian Kroman (1846-1925). The effect of Stuart Mill's Examination was, according to Pattison's review: "[...] the absolute annihilation of all Sir W. Hamilton’s doctrines, opinions, of all he has written or taught. Nor of himself only, but all his followers, pupils, copyists, are involved in the common ruin. The whole fabric of the Hamiltonian philosophy is not only demolished, but its very stones are ground to powder" (Pattison 1865: 562). Furthermore, the publication of this attack on Hamilton and intuitionism had (unintended) consequences for how history of philosophy is taught: "Mill’s demolition of Hamilton’s reputation led to the removal of Reid and the school of Scottish “common sense” philosophy from the curriculum in Britain and America" (Heydt 2006).
Examination is one of Mill's most important works, together with System of Logic (1843), On Liberty (1859) and Utilitarianism (1861). In Examination, Mill argues for associationist theories (see Colman 2025) and opposes intuitionist views of the external world, rejecting the position of Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856) – a Scottish metaphysical philosopher and influential educator. The philosophers within the Scottish Common Sense tradition of the 18th century claimed that there truly existed an objective world, which was guaranteed by an intuitive insight. Mill argued that such knowledge is unjustified. Instead, he analysed matter in terms of possible sensations: for something to be a material thing, distinct from our sensations, it must (1) be public, meaning perceived by many different people, (2) "perdurable", outlasting the experiences of those who perceive it, and (3) retain the same properties despite looking different in different circumstances (see Ryan 1979).
There is no known complete Danish translation of Mill’s An Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy. OCLC locates merely two copies worldwide, both in Denmark, own a copy of this edition.
Order-nr.: 63359
DKK 1.000,00