James Beattie

James Beattie (1753-1803), a Scottish philosopher and poet, was born on October 25, 1735 in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire. In 1749 he began studying at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and was awarded the MA degree in 1753. In 1760, he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic at Marischal College, and soon after was elected to the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, founded in 1758 by Thomas Reid (1710-1796) and John Gregory (1724-1773). Beattie´s later years were not happy; his wife, Mary Beattie (née Dunn), went mad and was committed to an asylum; his elder son died in 1790 and the younger in 1796. After several strokes, Beattie died in Aberdeen on August 18, 1803.

Essay on Truth=

In 1770, Beattie published the work for which he was best known, An Essay on The Nature and Immutability of Truth In Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism (1770) asserted the sovereignty of common sense while attacking the ideas of David Hume (1711-1776), the major philosopher of the time. The work earned him a doctorate of laws from Oxford; an audience with King George III; and a Crown pension of 200 pounds a year. Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson were among those impressed, and his portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Essay was translated into French, German, and Dutch, and in 1784 Beattie was made a member of the American Philosophical Society.