CAIRD, JOHN. – English philosopher and theologian, brother of Edoardo, born in Greenock, Scotland, on 15 December 1820, died on 30 July 1898. He studied at the University of Glasgow, where he taught theology (having been ordained a Protestant minister in 1845) and of which he later, in 1873, became vice-chancellor and “principal.”
A student of Hegel, he expounded his system in Introduction to the philosophy of Religion (1880) and defended it against the currents of empiricism and scepticism. He also produced an excellent study of Spinoza’s doctrines compared with those of Hegel. His entire activity was devoted to the investigation of religious and theological problems and to the revaluation of the fundamental principles of Christianity.
BIBL.: Memoir on J. C. (by his brother Edoardo) in his posthumous work, The fundamental ideas of Christianity, Glasgow 1899. Luigi Bellofiore