Rev Henry Calderwood

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

LLD (10 May 1830,

Peebles Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...

– 19 November 1897, Edinburgh) was a Scottish minister and philosopher.

Life

He was born in

on 10 May 1830, the son of William Calderwood, a corn merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Mitchell. He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution and then the

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and later attended

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He studied for the ministry of the

United Presbyterian Church of Scotland The United Presbyterian Church (1847–1900) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the U ...

, and in 1856 was ordained pastor of the Greyfriars church,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He also examined in mental philosophy for the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1861 to 1864, and from 1866 conducted the

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

classes at that university, until in 1868 he became Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh, holding this post until his death 29 years later. He was made LL.D. of Glasgow in 1865. At this point the family lived at 197 St Vincent Street. In 1869 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

his proposer being

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the Edinburgh University, University of Edinburgh and also becomin ...

. His address was then given as ''Craigrowan'', a large villa in

Merchiston Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Location Merchiston Avenue is southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchiston inc ...

on the west side of the city. His first and most famous work was ''The Philosophy of the Infinite'' (1854), in which he attacked the statement of Sir William Hamilton that we can have no knowledge of the

Infinite Infinite may refer to: Mathematics *Infinite set, a set that is not a finite set *Infinity, an abstract concept describing something without any limit Music Performers *Infinite (group), a South Korean boy band *Infinite (rapper), Canadian ra ...

. Calderwood maintained that such knowledge, though imperfect, is real and ever-increasing; that

Faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

implies

Knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

. His moral philosophy is in direct antagonism to

Hegelian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and the ...

doctrine, and endeavours to substantiate the doctrine of divine sanction. Beside the data of experience, the mind has pure activity of its own whereby it apprehends the fundamental realities of life and combat. He wrote in addition ''A Handbook of Moral Philosophy'', ''On the Relations of Mind and Brain'', ''Science and Religion'', ''The Evolution of Man's Place in Nature''. Among his religious works the best-known is his ''Parables of Our Lord'', and just before his death he finished a biography of

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

in the ''Famous Scots Series''. His interests were not confined to religious and intellectual matters; as the first chairman of the Edinburgh school board, he worked hard to bring the Education Act into working order. He published a well-known treatise on education. In the cause of philanthropy and temperance he was indefatigable. In politics he was at first a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

, but became a

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

at the time of the Home Rule Bill. Calderwood was an advocate of

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...

. In his book ''Evolution and Man's Place in Nature'' he wrote that "evolution stands before us as an impressive reality in the history of Nature."Lundin, Roger. (2013). ''Christ Across the Disciplines: Past, Present, Future''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 95. He is buried in

Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh Morningside Cemetery is a cemetery in south List of graveyards and cemeteries in Edinburgh, Edinburgh. It was established in 1878 by the Metropolitan Cemetery Company, originally just outwith the then city boundary, the nearest suburb then b ...

, towards the south-west. His wife Anne Hutton Leadbetter (d.1912) lies with him.

Family

He married Anne Hutton Leadbetter in 1857. Their children included the marine biologist

William Leadbetter Calderwood William Leadbetter Calderwood FRSE (1865–1950) was a Scottish marine biologist. He served as Director of the Marine Biological Association Laboratory in Plymouth. He was the author of several authoritative works on marine biology. He was a spec ...

(1865–1950).

References

*'' The life of Henry Calderwood, LL.D., F.R.S.E''. by his son W.L. Calderwood and David Woodside; with a special chapter on his philosophical works by A. Seth Pringle-Pattison (1900) * Calderwood, Henry (1881). '' The Relations of Science and Religion''. Macmillan (reissued by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2009; ) *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calderwood, Henry 1830 births 1897 deaths People educated at Stewart's Melville College People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh People from Peebles 19th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish philosophers Theistic evolutionists