HUTCHESON, FRANCIS. - English philosopher, b. at Drumalig (Ireland) on 8 Aug. 1694, d. at Glasgow in 1747. From 1729 he was professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow.
He wrote: An enquiry concerning the original of our ideas of beauty and virtue (London 1725); Essay on the nature and conduct of the passions and affections (ibid. 1728); A system of moral philosophy, his principal work, published posthumously (Glasgow 1755) with a biography of H. by W. Leechman.
H. is one of the secondary figures of the English Enlightenment and may be counted among the moralists of the eighteenth century or among the so-called philosophers of the "moral sense." An optimist (everything in the world testifies to the goodness of God) just as Shaftesbury, whose influence he feels, he admits in man specific faculties given by God with creation, namely the sense of beauty, that of sympathy and others, among them the moral sense, an independent faculty that cannot be resolved either into sympathy, or into pleasure, or into utility, etc. As the eyes perceive light and darkness, so the moral sense perceives virtue and vice. It is entirely disinterested, both for the one who acts and for the one who approves, even if H. at bottom identifies it with the utilitarian tendency to act in such a way as to procure "the greatest happiness of the greatest number." Precisely in considering the good of others, we promote our own greatest particular good.
Bibliography5 worksEditions: Works, 5 vols., Glasgow 1872. Studies: Th. Fowler, Shaftesbury and H., London 1882; J. Martineau, Types of ethical theory, Oxford
BIBL.: Editions: Works, 5 vols., Glasgow 1872. Studies: Th. Fowler, Shaftesbury and H., London 1882; J. Martineau, Types of ethical theory, Oxford 1885; W. R. Scott, F. H., London 1900; L. Bandini, Shaftesbury: etica e religione, Bari 1930, p. xiv and passim; T. E. Jessop, A biography of D. Hume and of wottish philosophy from F. H. to Lord Balfour, London 1938.
Sciacca, Michele Federico. “Hutcheson, francis.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, coll. 1516–1517. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/hutcheson-francis.
MLA
Sciacca, Michele Federico. “Hutcheson, francis.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 1516–1517. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/hutcheson-francis.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_hutcheson_francis,
author = {Sciacca, Michele Federico},
title = {Hutcheson, francis},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {1516--1517},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/hutcheson-francis}
}
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