13 Facts About James McCosh

James McCosh was a philosopher of the Scottish School of Common Sense.

James McCosh became a minister of the Church of Scotland in 1834, serving as minister first at Abbey Church in Arbroath and then at Brechin.

James McCosh sided with the Free Church of Scotland in the Disruption of 1843, becoming minister at Brechin's new East Free Church.

James McCosh resigned the presidency in 1888, but continued to teach philosophy until his death.

James McCosh was immortalised by William Makepeace Thackeray in the ballad of "The Last Irish Grievance".

James McCosh's position was mainly in the tradition of Thomas Reid and other Scottish common-sense philosophers.

James McCosh denied that our beliefs about the nature of the external world rest on causal or other inferences from perceptual ideas, but held that they are the direct accompaniments of sensation, and thus not open to question.

James McCosh argued for the a priori nature of fundamental principles such as those of causality and morality.

James McCosh realized that much of Darwinism could and would be proved sound, and so he strove to prepare Christians for this event.

James McCosh thus demonstrated that Darwinism was not atheistic nor in irreconcilable hostility to the Bible.

James McCosh thus argued that evolution, far from being inconsistent with belief in divine design, glorifies the divine designer, believing nature was entirely interconnected by natural laws God was immanent with.

James McCosh offered the first public endorsement of evolution by an American religious leader.

James McCosh was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1871.