Western Philosophy 18th-century philosophy,
David Hartley
Name:	David Hartley
Birth:	June 21, 1705 Halifax, Yorkshire, England
Death:	August 28, 1757 Bath, England
School/tradition:	Empiricism, Materialism, Determinism
Main interests:	Neurology, Theopathy, Ethics, Psychology
Notable ideas:	founder of the associationist school of psychology
Influences:	John Locke, Thomas Reid
Influenced:	William James

David Hartley (June 21, 1705–August 28, 1757) was an English philosopher and founder of the Associationist school of psychology. (Redirected from 18th century philosophy) 17th-century Western philosophy is conventionally seen as being dominated by the coming of symbolic mathematics and rationalism to philosophy, many of the most noted philosophers were also mathematicians. ... David Hartley source: http://www. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... // Events Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. ... Halifax is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, with a population of about 82,000. ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2006 estimate... August 28 is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Bath is a city in South West England most famous for its baths fed by three hot springs. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2006 estimate... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ... Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition, decision and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. ... Ethics (from the Ancient Greek Ä“thikos, the adjective of Ä“thos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, including genetics is the study of values and customs of a person or group. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is an academic/ applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... In the philosophy of mind, associationism began as a theory about how ideas combine in the mind. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is an academic/ applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... This article is about John Locke, the English philosopher. ... Thomas Reid Thomas Reid (April 26, 1710 – October 7, 1796), Scottish philosopher, and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. ... For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation) William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. ... There are several persons with the name David Hartley: David Hartley (1705-1757), English philosopher David Hartley (1731-1813), son of David Hartley the philosopher, and signatory to the Treaty of Paris David Hartley, musician This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... // Events Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The English are an ethnic group originating in the lowlands of Great Britain and are descendent primarily from the Anglo-Saxons, the Celts with minor influences from the Scandanavians and other groups. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... In the philosophy of mind, associationism began as a theory about how ideas combine in the mind. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is an academic/ applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ...

Early life and education

David Hartley was born in June 1705 in the vicinity of Halifax, Yorkshire. His mother died three months after his birth. His father, an Anglican clergyman, died when David was only fifteen. He was educated at Bradford grammar school and Jesus College, Cambridge, of which society he became a fellow in 1727. Originally intended for the Church, he was deterred from taking orders by certain scruples as to signing the Thirty-nine Articles, and took up the study of medicine. Nevertheless, he remained a member of the Church of England, and was on intimate terms with the most distinguished churchmen of his day. He considered it his duty to obey ecclesiastical as well as civil authorities. The doctrine to which he most strongly objected was that of eternal punishment. Halifax can refer to any of several things: // Australia Halifax Bay, North Queensland Canada Halifax Regional Municipality City of Halifax (dissolved city) Halifax County, Nova Scotia (dissolved county) Halifax (electoral district) Halifax International Airport Namibia Halifax Island United Kingdom Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax (UK Parliament constituency) Halifax bank (formerly building... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article discusses the city Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. ... Grammar school can refer to various types of schools in different English-speaking countries. ... Full name The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge Motto Facias Prosperum Iter Named after Jesus Lane & Jesus Parish Previous names - Established 1496 Sister College(s) Jesus College, Oxford Master Prof. ... Events 1727 to 1800 - Lt. ... The Thirty-Nine Articles are the defining statements of Anglican doctrine. ... medicines, see medication and pharmacology. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...

Professional career and family history

Hartley was married twice. The first time in 1730 to Alice Rowley, who died the next year giving birth to their son David (1731-1813). His second marriage was in 1735 to Elizabeth (1713-78), the daughter of Robert Packer of Shellingford and Bucklebury, both in Berkshire. This marriage was undertaken in spite of the opposition of Elizabeth's influential and very wealthy family. This union produced two additional children, Mary (1736-1803) and Winchcombe Henry (1740-94). Hartley practised as a physician at Newark, Bury St Edmunds, London, and lastly at Bath, where he died in 1757. David Hartley (1731 - December 19, 1813) was a member of the House of Commons (1774–80, 1782–84), an inventor, and the son of the philosopher David Hartley. ... This article refers to the real-life village; for J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional village see Buckland (Middle-earth) Bucklebury is a village in Berkshire, England. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Newark (also Newark-on-Trent) is a town in Nottinghamshire, located on the River Trent. ... Bury St Edmunds is a town in the county of Suffolk, England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Bath is a city in South West England most famous for its baths fed by three hot springs. ...

Observations on Man

Title page from the first edition of the Observations

His principal work Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations was published in 1749, three years after Condillac's Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines, in which similar theories were expounded. It is in two parts--the first dealing with the frame of the human body and mind, and their mutual connections and influences, the second with the duty and expectations of mankind. His two main theories are the doctrine of vibrations and the doctrine of associations. His physical theory, he tells us, was drawn from certain speculations as to nervous action which Isaac Newton had published in his Principia. His psychological theory was suggested by the Dissertation concerning the Fundamental Principles of Virtue or Morality, which was written by a clergyman named John Gay (1699--1745), and prefixed by Bishop Law to his translation of Archbishop King's Latin work on the Origin of Evil, its chief object being to show that sympathy and conscience are developments by means of association from the selfish feelings. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 371 × 599 pixels Full resolution (469 × 757 pixel, file size: 22 KB, MIME type: image/png) Hartley, David. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 371 × 599 pixels Full resolution (469 × 757 pixel, file size: 22 KB, MIME type: image/png) Hartley, David. ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... Étienne Bonnot de Condillac. ... Sir Isaac Newton, (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science. ... William King, D.D. (1650-1729) was an Anglican divine in Ireland, who was Archbishop of Dublin from 1702 to 1729. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Hartley's theories

The outlines of Hartley's theory are as follows. Like John Locke, he asserted that, prior to sensation, the human mind is a blank. By a growth from simple sensations, those states of consciousness which appear most remote from sensation come into being. And the one law of growth of which Hartley took account was the law of contiguity, synchronous and successive. By this law he sought to explain, not only the phenomena of memory, which others had similarly explained before him, but also the phenomena of emotion, If reasoning, and of voluntary and involuntary action (see Association of Ideas). A friend, associate, and one of his chief advocates, was Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the discoverer of oxygen. Priestley was one of the foremost scientists of his age. This article is about John Locke, the English philosopher. ... In psychology and marketing, two concepts or stimuli are associated when the experience of one leads to the effects of another, due to repeated pairing. ... Joseph Frederick Priestley is often credited for the discovery of oxygen. ...

Doctrine of vibrations

Hartley's physical theory gave birth to the modern study of the intimate connection of physiological and psychical facts, though his physical theory in itself is inadequate. He believed that sensation is the result of a vibration of the minute particles of the medullary substance of the nerves, to account for which he postulated, with Newton, a subtle elastic ether, rare in the interstices of solid bodies and in their close neighbourhood, and denser as it recedes from them. Pleasure is the result of moderate vibrations, pain of vibrations so violent as to break the continuity of the nerves. These vibrations leave behind them in the brain a tendency to fainter vibrations or "vibratiuncles" of a similar kind, which correspond to "ideas of sensation." This accounts for memory. The medulla oblongata is the lower portion of the brainstem. ... Chinese Wood (木) | Fire (火) | Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (水) Hinduism and Buddhism The Pancha Mahabhuta (The Five Great Elements) Vayu/Pavan (Air/Wind) Agni/Tejas (Fire) Akasha (Aether) Prithvi/Bhumi (Earth) Ap/Jala (Water) Aether (also spelled ether) is a concept used in ancient and medieval science as a substance. ...

Doctrine of associations

The course of reminiscence and of the thoughts generally, when not immediately dependent upon external sensation, is accounted for by the idea that there are always vibrations in the brain on account of its heat and the pulsation of its arteries. The nature of these vibrations is determined by each man's past experience, and by the circumstances of the moment, which causes one or another tendency to prevail over the rest. Sensations which are often associated together become each associated with the ideas corresponding to the others; and the ideas corresponding to the associated sensations become associated together, sometimes so intimately that they form what appears to be a new simple idea, not without careful analysis resolvable into its component parts.

Free will

Starting from a detailed account of the phenomena of the senses, Hartley tried to show how, by the above laws, all the emotions, which he analyses with considerable skill, may be explained. Locke's phrase "association of ideas" is employed throughout, "idea" being taken as including every mental state but sensation. He emphatically asserts the existence of pure disinterested sentiment, while declaring it to be a growth from the self-regarding feelings. Voluntary action is explained as the result of a firm connexion between a motion and a sensation or "idea," and, on the physical side, between an "ideal" and a motory vibration. Therefore in the Freewill controversy Hartley took his place as a determinist. It was only with reluctance, and when his speculations were nearly complete, that he came to a conclusion on this subject in accordance with his theory. This article is about John Locke, the English philosopher. ...

List of major works

• Anon., An Introduction towards an Essay on the Origin of the Passions, in which it is endeavored to be shown how they are all acquired, and that they are none other than Associations of ideas of our own making, or that we learn from others (1741).
• Conjecturae quaedam de sensu, motu, et idearum generatione, Appendix to De Lithontriptico a Joanna Stephens nuper invento Dissertatio Epistolaris (Bath, 1746); repr. in Samuel Parr (ed.), Metaphysical Tracts by English Philosophers (1837); trans. Robert E.A. Palmer
• Various Conjectures on the Perception, Motion, and Generation of Ideas, with an Introduction and notes by Martin Kallich (Augustan Reprint Society, Publication no. 77–8, Los Angeles, 1959).
• Anon., An Enquiry into the Origin of the Human Appetites and Affections shewing how each arises from Association, with an account of the entrance of moral evil into the world, to which are added Some Remarks on the Independent Scheme, which deduces all obligation on God’s part and Man’s from certain abstract relation, truth, &c. (Lincoln, 1747; repr. in Samuel Parr).
• Observations on Man, his frame, his duty, and his expectations. In Two Parts (1749; 2nd edn, trans. from the German, with A Sketch of the Life and Character of David Hartley by his son David Hartley, 1791; 1st edn repr. with an Introduction by Theodore L. Huguelet, Delmar, New York, 1976).
• Prayers and Religious Meditations (Bath, 1810).

David Hartley also published numerous medical works. The Augustan Reprint Society was founded in 1946. ...

References

• Allen, Richard C. (1999). David Hartley on Human Nature. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-4233-0
• Ferg, Stephen, Two Early Works of David Hartley, Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 19, no. 2 (April 1981), pp. 173–89.
• James, William, The Principles of Psychology (New York, 1890).
• Rousseau, George S. (2004). Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-3454-1 (Paperback) ISBN 1-4039-3453-3 (Hardcover)
• Walls, Joan, The Philosophy of David Hartley and the Root Metaphor of Mechanism: A Study in the History of Psychology, Journal of Mind and Behavior, vol. 3 (1982), pp. 259–74.

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy -- David Hartley
• David Hartley page, maintained by Richard C. Allen.
• David Hartley by Victor L. Nuovo, in "The Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers", Thoemmes Press.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.