Record Number: 12971

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'My habits have been so much deranged by change of place, that I have not yet got rightly settled to my studies. I have read little since I saw you: and of that little, I doubt, I have not made the best use. Have you seen Playfairs introductory essay in the Encyclopedia? I am sure you will like it. It is distinguished for its elegance & perspicuity. I perused it some weeks ago, and thought it greatly preferable to Stewarts. Indeed I have often told you, that I am somewhat displeased with myself because I cannot admire this great philosopher, half as much as many critics do. He is so very stately - so transcendental - and withal so unintelligible, that I cannot look upon him with the needful veneration. I was reading the second volume of his "Philosophy of the human mind", lately. It is principally devoted to the consideration of Reason. The greater part of the book is taken up with statements of the opinions of others; and it often required all my penetration to discover what the Author's own views of the matter were. He talks much about Analysis & Mathematics, and disports him very pleasantly upon geometrical reasoning; but leaves what is to me the principal difficulty, untouched. Tell me if you have read it.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1817 and 12 Feb 1817

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Kirkcaldy

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Thomas Carlyle

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

4 Dec 1795

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Teacher, later man of letters

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

John Playfair

Title:

Dissertation Second: Exhibiting a general View of the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, History, Science, Mathematics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

included in 4th, 5th and 6th editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12971

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Charles Richard Sanders

Title:

The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle

Place of Publication:

Durham, NC

Date of Publication:

1970

Vol:

I

Page:

90-1

Additional Comments:

Letter to Robert Mitchell

Citation:

Charles Richard Sanders (ed.), The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, (Durham, NC, 1970), I, p. 90-1, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12971, accessed: 19 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None