Carmichael, Gershom

Carmichael, Gershom (c. 1672-1729), Scottish philosopher, was born probably in London, the son of a Presbyterian minister who had been banished by the Scottish privy council for his religious opinions. He graduated at Edinburgh University in 1691, and became a regent at St Andrews. In 1694 he was elected a master in the university of Glasgow—an office that was converted into the professorship of moral philosophy in 1727, when the system of masters was abolished at Glasgow. Sir William Hamilton regarded him as “the real founder of the Scottish school of philosophy.” He wrote Bremuscula Introductio ad Logicam, a treatise on logic and the psychology of the intellectual powers; Synopsis Theologiae Naturalis; and an edition of Pufendorf, De Officio Hominis et Civis, with notes and supplements of high value. His son Frederick was the author of Sermons on Several Important Subjects and Sermons on Christian Zeal, both published in 1753.