James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
Lord Monboddo | |
|---|---|
 Engraving of Lord Monboddo by C. Sherwin, 1787 (after John Brown) | |
| Born | bapt. 25 October 1714 Monboddo House, Kincardineshire, Scotland |
| Died | 26 May 1799 (aged 84) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Education | Marischal College, University of Aberdeen University of Edinburgh |
| Occupation(s) | Philosopher, linguist, judge |
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (baptised 25 October 1714 – 26 May 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of
As such, Burnett adopted an honorary title based on the name of his father's estate and family seat, Monboddo House. Monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of early concepts of biological evolution. Some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of natural selection that was read by (and acknowledged in the writings of) Erasmus Darwin. Charles Darwin read the works of his grandfather Erasmus and later developed the ideas into a scientific theory.[2][3][4][5]
Early years
James Burnett was born in 1714 at Monboddo House in Kincardineshire, Scotland. After his primary education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, he studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen, from where he was graduated in 1729. He then studied Civil Law at the University of Groningen for three years. He returned to Scotland to stay in Edinburgh in 1736 on the day of the Porteous Riots and got caught in the crowds, witnessing the lynching of Captain John Porteous on his first night in the city. He took examination in Civil Law at Edinburgh University in 1737 and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates.[6]
Burnett married Elizabethe Farquharson and they had two daughters and a son. The younger daughter Elizabeth Burnett was an Edinburgh celebrity, known for her beauty and amiability, but who died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of 24. Burnett's friend the Scottish poet Robert Burns, had a romantic interest in Elizabeth and wrote a poem, "Elegy on The Late Miss Burnet of Monboddo", praising her beauty, which became her elegy.
Monboddo's early work in practising law found him in a landmark piece of litigation of his time, known as the
Later years
From 1754 until 1767 Monboddo was one of a number of distinguished proprietors of the Canongate Theatre. He clearly enjoyed this endeavour even when some of his fellow judges pointed out that the activity might cast a shadow over his sombre image as jurist. Here he had occasion to further associate with David Hume who was a principal actor in one of the plays. He had actually met Hume earlier when Monboddo was a curator of the Advocates Library and David Hume served as keeper of that library for several years while he wrote his history.
From 1769 until 1775 John Hunter acted as his personal secretary.[7]
In the era after Monboddo was appointed to Justice of the high court, he organised "learned suppers" at his house on 13 St John Street,
Monboddo died at home 13 St John Street
Historical linguistics
 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2012) |
In The Origin and Progress of Language, originally published in six volumes from 1774 to 1792, Burnett analysed the structure of languages and argued that humans had evolved language skills in response to changing environments and social structures. Burnett was the first to note that some languages create lengthy words for rather simple concepts. He reasoned that in early languages there was an imperative for clarity so redundancy was built in and seemingly unnecessary syllables added. He concluded that this form of language evolved when clear communication might be the determinant of avoiding danger.
Monboddo studied languages of peoples colonised by Europeans, including those of the
Monboddo also popularized
Joshua Steele's disagreement, and subsequent correspondence, with Monboddo over details of the "melody and measure of speech" resulted in Steele's Prosodia Rationalis, a foundational work both in phonetics and in the analysis of verse rhythm.
Evolutionary theorist
Monboddo is considered by some scholars[3][4][5][10][11][12] as a precursive thinker in the theory of evolution. However, some modern evolutionary historians do not give Monboddo an equally high standing in the influence of history of evolutionary thought.[2][13][14]
- "Monboddo: Scottish jurist and pioneer anthropologist who explored the origins of language and society and anticipated principles of Darwinian evolution."[11]
- "With some wavering, he extended anthropoids, and suggested by implication a general law of evolution." Lovejoy.
Though Darwin now proclaims the law
And spreads it far abroad, O!
The man that first the secret saw
Was honest old Monboddo.
The architect precedence takes
Of him that bears the hod, O!
So up and at them, Land of Cakes,
We'll vindicate Monboddo.
Erasmus Darwin notes Monboddo's work in his publications (Darwin 1803). Later writers[5][12] consider Monboddo's analysis as precursive to the theory of Evolution. Whether Charles Darwin read Monboddo is not certain. Monboddo debated with Buffon regarding man's relationship to other primates. Charles Darwin did not mention Monboddo,[16] but commented on Buffon: "the first author who in modern times has treated [evolution] in a scientific spirit was Buffon". Buffon thought that man was a species unrelated to lower primates, but Monboddo rejected Buffon's analysis and argued that the anthropoidal ape must be related to the species of man: he sometimes referred to the anthropoidal ape as the "brother of man". Monboddo suffered a setback, in his standing on evolutionary thought, because he stated at one time that men had caudal appendages (tails); some historians failed to take him very seriously after that remark, even though Monboddo was known to bait his critics with preposterous sayings.
Bailey's The Holly and the Horn[4] states that "Charles Darwin was to some degree influenced by the theories of Monboddo, who deserves the title of Evolutionist more than that of Eccentric." Henderson says:
- "He [Monboddo] was a minor celebrity in Edinburgh because he was considered to be very eccentric. But he actually came up with the idea that men may have evolved instead of being created by God. His views were dismissed because people thought he was mad, and in those days it was a very controversial view to hold. But he felt it was a logical possibility and it caused him a great deal of consternation. He actually did not want to believe the theory because he was a very religious person."[17]
Monboddo may be the first person to associate language skills evolving from primates and continuing to evolve in early humans (Monboddo, 1773). He wrote about how the language capability has altered over time in the form not only of skills but physical form of the sound producing organs (mouth, vocal cords, tongue, throat), suggesting he had formed the concept of evolutionary adaptive change.
He also elaborates on the advantages created by the adaptive change of primates to their environment and even to the evolving complexity of primate social structures. In 1772 in a letter to James Harris, Monboddo articulated that his theory of language evolution (Harris 1772) was simply a part of the manner that man had advanced from the lower animals, a clear precedent of evolutionary thought. Furthermore, he established a detailed theory of how man adaptively acquired language to cope better with his environment and social needs. He argued that the development of language was linked to a procession of events: first developing use of tools, then social structures and finally language. This concept was quite striking for his era, because it departed from the classical religious thinking that man was created instantaneously and language revealed by God. In fact, Monboddo was deeply religious and pointed out that the creation events were probably simply allegories and did not dispute that the universe was created by God. Monboddo was a vigorous opponent of other scientific thinking that philosophically questioned the role of God (see Monboddo's prolific diatribes on Newton's theories).
As an agriculturist and horse-breeder, Monboddo was quite aware of the significance of selective breeding and even transferred this
Monboddo struggled with how to "get man from an animal"
Burnett wrote of numerous cultures (mostly based upon accounts of explorers); for example, he described "insensibles" and "wood eaters" in Of the Origin and Progress of Language. He was fascinated by the nature of these peoples' language development and also how they fit into the evolutionary scheme.
Against all this, Monboddo's contribution to evolution is today regarded by historians of evolution as being notable.
Bowler acknowledges his argument that apes might represent the earliest form of humanity (Monboddo 1774), but continues:
- "He [Monboddo] regarded humans (including savages and apes) as quite distinct from the rest of the animal kingdom. The first suggestion that the human species was descended via the apes from the lower animals did not come until Lamarck's Philosophie Zoologique of 1809."[2]
The
Metaphysics
In Antient Metaphysics, Burnett claimed that man is gradually elevating himself from the animal condition to a state in which mind acts independently of the body. He was a strong supporter of Aristotle in his concepts of Prime Mover. Much effort was devoted to crediting Isaac Newton with brilliant discoveries in the Laws of Motion, while defending the power of the mind as outlined by Aristotle. His analysis was further complicated by his recurring need to assure that Newton did not obviate the presence of God.
Nudism
Monboddo was a pioneer in regard to many modern ideas and had already in the eighteenth century realized the value of "air-baths"
Eccentricity
Burnett was widely known to be an eccentric. Habitually he rode on horseback between Edinburgh and London instead of journeying by carriage. Another time after a decision went against him regarding the value of a horse, he refused to sit with the other judges and assumed a seat below the bench with the court clerks. When Burnett was visiting the Court of King's Bench in London in 1787, part of the floor of the courtroom started to collapse. People rushed out of the building but Burnett who, at the age of 71, was partially deaf and shortsighted, was the only one not to move. When he was later asked for a reason, he stated that he thought it was "an annual ceremony, with which, as an alien, he had nothing to do".
Burnett in his earlier years suggested that the orangutan was a form of man, although some analysts think that some of his presentation was designed to entice his critics into debate.
The orangutan was at this time a generic term for all types of apes. The Swedish explorer whose evidence Burnett accepted was a naval officer who had viewed a group of monkeys and thought they were human. Burnett may simply have taken the view that it was reasonable for people to assume the things they do and the word of a naval officer trained to give accurate reports was a credible source. Burnett was indeed responsible for changing the classical definition of man as a creature of reason to a creature capable of achieving reason, although he viewed this process as one slow and difficult to achieve.
At one time he said that humans must have all been born with tails, which were removed by midwives at birth. His contemporaries ridiculed his views, and by 1773 he had retracted this opinion (Pringle 1773). Some later commentators have seen him as anticipating
In popular culture
In Thomas Love Peacock's 1817 novel Melincourt, an orangutan punningly named "Sir Oran Haut-Ton" becomes a candidate for British Parliament based on Monboddo's theories.
Charles Dickens, in his novel Martin Chuzzlewit,[18] refers to "the Manboddo doctrine touching the probability of the human race having once been monkeys".
In his 1981
Lord Monboddo's descendant, Jamie Burnett of Leys, has sponsored a stage work Monboddo – The Musical which is a biographical re-enactment of the life of his ancestor. It received a first run at Aberdeen Arts Centre in September 2010.
In her short story "The Monboddo Ape Boy", Lillian de la Torre depicted a slightly fictionalised Monboddo meeting Samuel Johnson, and being presented with a supposed "wild boy".
Writings
Publications
- Preface to de La Condamine, Charles Marie; Le Blanc, Marie-Angélique Memmie (1768). An Account of a Savage Girl, Caught Wild in the Woods of Champagne. Translated from the French of Madam H–––t'. Translated by William Robertson. Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and J. Bell. pp. iii–xvii.
- Of the Origin and Progress of Language. Vol. Six volumes. Edinburgh and London: J. Balfour and T. Cadell. 1773–1792.
- Antient Metaphysics. Vol. Six volumes. Edinburgh and London: Bell & Bradshute and T. Cadell. 1779–1799.
- "Advertisement" to John Brown, Letters upon the Poetry and Music of the Italian Opera, Addressed to a Friend (Edinburgh and London, Bell & Bradshute and C. Elliot and T. Kay, 1789)
- "Reports of Decisions of the Court of Session, 1738–68" in A Supplement to The Dictionary of Decisions of the Court of Session, ed. M. P. Brown (5 volumes, Edinburgh, J. Bell & W. Creech, 1826), volume 5, pp. 651–941
Correspondence
- James Burnett to James Harris, 31 December 1772[24]
- James Burnett to Sir John Pringle, 16 June 1773[24]
- James Burnett to James Boswell, 11 April and 28 May 1777, Yale University Boswell Papers, (C.2041 and C.2042)
- James Burnett to William Jones, 20 June 1789[24]
- James Burnett to T. Cadell and J. Davies, 15 May 1796, British Museum, A letter bound into Dugald Stewart, Account of the Life and Writings of William Robertson, D.D., F.R.S.E, 2nd ed., London (1802). Shelf no.1203.f.3
References
- ISBN 978-0-8093-2469-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-06386-0.
- ^ ISBN 0907301096.
- ^ ISBN 0-9538640-2-2.
- ^ a b c d Cloyd, E.L. (1972). James Burnett, Lord Monboddo. Clarendon.
- ^ Kay's Originals vol.1 p.19
- ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
- ^ Grant, James (1880–1887). Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh. Vol. Three volumes. Edinburgh.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Williamsons Edinburgh Directory 1797
- S2CID 161106961.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 692–693.
- ^ a b Gray, W. Forbes (1929). A Forerunner of Darwin. Vol. CXXV. Fortnightly Review n.s. pp. 112–122.
- ISBN 0812968492.
- ISBN 978-0-674-36446-2.
- Neaves, Charles (1875). Songs and Verses (4th ed.). London. p. 5.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Darwin, Charles (1896). The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (Authorised ed.). New York: D. Appleton.
- ISBN 1840183780.
- ^ a b Dickens, Charles (1843). The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. London: Chapman and Hall.
- ^ Rosenhouse, Jason (26 July 2006). "Dickens on Evolution". EvolutionBlog. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- ^ Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph (1845). Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's vermischte Schriften, mit dem Portrait, Facsimile und einer Ansicht des Geburtshauses des Verfassers: Vernischte Schriften (in German). Gottingen: Dieterichschen Buchhandlung. p. 64.
- ^ Wedemeyer-Kolwe 2004, p. 204.
- ISBN 978-1-4832-2373-5.
- ISBN 978-1-86189-729-9.
- ^ ISBN 1-85506-207-0.
Further reading
- Boswell, James (1767). The Essence of the Douglas Cause. London: J. Wilkie.
- Boswell, James; Johnson, Samuel (1948) [1773]. A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (New ed.). reprinted Oxford: University Press.
- Darwin, Erasmus (1803). The Temple of Nature'. London: J. Johnson.
- Nichols, W. L. (1853), "Lord Monboddo", Notes and Queries, vol. VII
- Graham, Henry Grey (1901). Scottish Men of Letters in the Eighteenth Century'. London: A. & C. Black. pp. 188–198.
- Barnard, Alan (2013). "Orang Outang and the Definition of Man: The Legacy of Lord Monboddo". In Vermeulen, Han; Roldan, Arturo Alvarez (eds.). Fieldwork and Footnotes: Studies in the History of European Anthropology. London: Routledge. pp. 95–115. ISBN 978-1-134-84396-1.
- Buchan, James (2003). Capital of the Mind: How Edinburgh Changed the World. Edinburgh: John Murray.
- Hammett, Iain Maxwell (2004). "Burnett, James, Lord Monboddo (bap. 1714, d. 1799)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4074. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Wedemeyer-Kolwe, Bernd (2004). "Der neue Mensch": Körperkultur im Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik ["The New Man" : Body Culture in Imperial Germany and in the Weimar Republic] (in German). Königshausen & Neumann. ISBN 978-3-8260-2772-7.
- Works by James Burnett, Lord Monboddo at Open Library
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