Samuel Bailey (5 July 1791 – 18 January 1870) was a British philosopher, economist and writer. He was called the " Bentham of

Hallamshire Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, approximating to the current City of Sheffield local government area. The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Hall ...

Life

Bailey was born at

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

on 5 July 1791, the son of Joseph Bailey and Mary Eadon. His father was among the first of those Sheffield

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

s who went to the United States to establish trade connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired from all business concerns with an ample fortune, although he remained connected with the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was a founder in 1831 and served as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

for many years. Although an ardent liberal, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions, he stood for Sheffield as a " philosophic radical" parliamentary candidate, but without success. His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. He died suddenly on 18 January 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s of Sheffield for public use.

Thought

His first work, ''Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions'', published anonymously in 1821, attracted more attention than any of his other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, ''Essays on the Pursuit of Truth''. Between these two were ''Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, &c.'' (1823), and a ''Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value'' (1825), directed against the opinions of

David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist, politician, and member of Parliament. He is recognized as one of the most influential classical economists, alongside figures such as Thomas Malthus, Ada ...

and his school. His next publications also were on economic or political subjects, ''Rationale of Political Representation'' (1835), and ''Money and its Vicissitudes'' (1837) and he has been regarded as one of the main theorists of Free banking. About the same time, there also appeared some of his

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

s, ''Discussion of Parliamentary Reform'', ''Right of Primogeniture Examined'', ''Defence of Joint-Stock Banks''. In 1842 appeared his ''Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision'' which called forth rejoinders from

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

in the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly United Kingdom, British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the libe ...

'' and from James Frederick Ferrier in ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by publisher William Blackwood and originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'', but quickly relaunched as ''Blackwood's Edinb ...

''. Bailey replied to his critics in a ''Letter to a Philosopher'' (1843), &c. In 1851 he published ''Theory of Reasoning'', a discussion of the nature of

inference Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinct ...

, and an able criticism of the functions and value of the

syllogism A syllogism (, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true. In its earliest form (defin ...

. In 1852 he published ''Discourses on Various Subjects''; and finally summed up his philosophic views in the ''Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind'' (three series, 1855, 1858, 1863). The ''Letters'' contain a discussion of many of the principal problems in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and ethics. Bailey can hardly be classed as belonging either to the strictly

empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...

or to the

idealist Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...

school, but his general tendency is towards the former. In regard to method, he founds

entirely on

introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's s ...

. He thus, to a certain extent, agrees with the Scottish School, but he differs from them in rejecting altogether the doctrine of mental faculties. What have been designated faculties are, upon his view, merely classified facts or phenomena of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

. He criticizes very severely the habitual use of

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

ical language in describing mental operations. His doctrine of

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

, which is, in brief, that "the perception of external things through the organs of sense is a direct mental act or phenomenon of consciousness not susceptible of being resolved into anything else,"Bain, Alexander.''The Senses and the Intellect''. London: Parker & Son, 1855
Page 370
/ref> and the reality of which can be neither proved nor disproved, is not worked out in detail, but is supported by elaborate and sometimes subtle criticisms of all other theories. With regard to general and abstract

idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...

s and general

proposition A proposition is a statement that can be either true or false. It is a central concept in the philosophy of language, semantics, logic, and related fields. Propositions are the object s denoted by declarative sentences; for example, "The sky ...

s, his opinions are those of the empirical school, but his analysis frequently puts the matter in a new light. In the theory of

morals Morality () is the categorization of intentions, decisions and actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduc ...

, Bailey is an advocate of

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

(though he objects to the term "utility" as being narrow and, to the unthinking, of sordid content), and works out with great skill the steps in the formation of the "complex" mental facts involved in the recognition of

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

obligation An obligation is a course of action which someone is required to take, be it a legal obligation or a moral obligation. Obligations are constraints; they limit freedom. People who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. ...

, right. He bases all moral phenomena on five facts: * Man is susceptible to

pleasure Pleasure is experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something. It contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad. It is closely related to value, desire and action: humans and other conscious animals find ...

(and

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...

); * he likes (or dislikes) their causes; * he desires to reciprocate pleasure and pain received; * he expects such reciprocation from others; * he feels more or less sympathy with the same feelings in his fellows (cf. ''Letters'', 3rd series). In 1845 he published ''Maro'' a poem in four

canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from th ...

s (85 pp., Longmans), containing a description of a young poet who printed 1000 copies of his first poem, of which only 10 were sold. He was a diligent student of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and his last literary work was ''On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings and its Improvement'' (1862).

Works

* ''Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions'' (1821)
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**2nd edition, 1826
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Philadelphia, 1831
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**3rd edition, 1837
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Boston, 1854
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* ''Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, Metaphysics, &c.'' (1823)
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* ''A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value'' (1825)
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* ''A Letter to a Political Economist'' (1826). [Pamphlet, 101 pp.
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* ''Essays on the Pursuit of Truth, &c.'' (1829)
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Philadelphia, 1831
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**2nd edition, 1844
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* ''Discussion of Parliamentary Reform'' (1831). [Pamphlet, 55 pp.] * ''The Rationale of Political Representation'' (1835)
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* ''Right of Primogeniture Examined'' (1837). amphlet, 60 pp.* ''Money and Its Vicissitudes in Value'' (1837)
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* ''Defence of Joint-Stock Banks'' (1840). amphlet, 100 pp.* ''A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision'' (1842)
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* ''Letter to a Philosopher in Reply to Some Recent Attempts to Vindicate &c.'' (1843). amphlet, 68 pp.* ''Maro; or, Poetic irritability'' (1845)
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* ''The Theory of Reasoning'' (1851)
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2nd ed., 1852
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* ''Discourses on Various Subjects'' (1852)
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* ''Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind'' (1855–1863). ** First series, 1855
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** Second series, 1858
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** Third series, 1863
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* ''On the received text of Shakespeare's dramatic writings and its Improvement'' (1862–1866). 2 volumes. **Volume 1, 1862
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**Volume 2, 1866
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Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Samuel 1791 births 1870 deaths 19th-century British philosophers 19th-century English philosophers English economists English political writers Writers from Sheffield