Mary Shepherd: A Guide

334 Pages·2023·2.133 MB·English

by  Deborah Boyle

Mary Shepherd: A Guide
Deborah Boyle
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190090326.001.0001
Published: 2022 Online ISBN: 9780190090364 Print ISBN: 9780190090326
FRONT MATTER
Copyright Page 
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190090326.002.0004 Page iv
Published: December 2022
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Subject: History of Western Philosophy a
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Boyle, Deborah, author.
Title: Mary Shepherd : a guide / Deborah Boyle.
Description: New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, 2023. |
Series: Oxford guides to philosophy series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identi�ers: LCCN 2022036065 (print) | LCCN 2022036066 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190090333 (paperback) | ISBN 9780190090326 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190090357 (epub) | ISBN 9780190090364
Subjects: LCSH: Shepherd, Mary, Lady, 1777–1847. | Causation. |
Perception (Philosophy) | Philosophy, English—19th century.
Classi�cation: LCC B1609 .S544 B69 2023 (print) | LCC B1609 .S544 (ebook) |
DDC 121/.34—dc23/eng/20220929
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022036065
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022036066
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190090326.001.0001 D
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Paperback printed by Marquis, Canada fro
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Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America ttp
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For my father, Terry, and in memory of my mother, Sheila n
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Mary Shepherd: A Guide
Deborah Boyle
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190090326.001.0001
Published: 2022 Online ISBN: 9780190090364 Print ISBN: 9780190090326
FRONT MATTER
Acknowledgments 
Published: December 2022
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The recent interest and enthusiasm among historians of philosophy regarding Shepherd’s work have made h
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this book possible in a way that might not have been the case even twenty years ago. I am very grateful to s://a
have been able to present earlier versions of the material in this book at a variety of conferences. I am also ca
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grateful to David Landy for inviting me to present my work on Shepherd at San Francisco State University in em
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2019 and to meet on Zoom with his seminar students to discuss Shepherd in 2021, to Aaron Garrett for the .o
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opportunity to give a talk on Shepherd at Boston University in 2019, and to Manuel Fasko for inviting me to .c
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participate in an online workshop on Shepherd and personal identity at the University of Basel in 2021. At all
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these events, I bene�ted immensely from the comments and questions provided by audience members and o
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other participants, especially Thomas Aeppli, Donald Ainslie, Martha Bolton, Olivia Brown, Annemarie 4
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Butler, Colin Chamberlain, Patrick Connolly, Becko Copenhaver, Louise Daoust, Keota Fields, M. Folescu, 0
/c
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James Foster, Gordon Graham, Giovanni Grandi, Lukas Hilgert, Laura Kämpfen, Muriel Leuenberger, Alison a
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McIntyre, Jelscha Schmid, Lisa Shapiro, Julie Walsh, and Markus Wild. And for their generous comments on r/3
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earlier drafts of material in this book, I thank Charlotte Alderwick, Margaret Atherton, Becko Copenhaver, 4
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Manuel Fasko, David Landy, Antonia LoLordo, Terry Meyers, Alison Peterman, Samuel Rickless, and Alison 8
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Stone. 7 b
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Some of the material in this book, especially Chapter 8, is based on work I �rst presented at the Early w
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Modern–Saint Louis Conference and the Fifth Annual Lehigh University Philosophy Conference, both in o
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p. x 2017, which then developed into my paper “Mary Shepherd on Mind, Soul, and Self,” Journal of the History U
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of Philosophy 58, no. 1 (2020): 93–112. I thank the publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press, for permission e
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to reprint this material. Chapter 4 is based on “Mary Shepherd on the Meaning of ‘Life,’ ” published in the ity
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British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29, no. 2 (2021): 208–25, copyright British Society for the History se
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of Philosophy, available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09608788.2020.1771271. My thanks n
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to the society for permission to reprint. Chapter 5 draws from work I presented at the 2019 meetings of the 0 J
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Canadian Philosophical Association, the Hume Society, and the International Conference on the nu
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Enlightenment. Material in chapter 9 was �rst presented in my papers “Mary Shepherd on Minds, Selves, ry
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and the Afterlife” at the 2019 Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association and 2
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“Lady Shepherd on Divine Creation” at the 2020 Institute for the Study of Scottish Philosophy Conference.
I am indebted to Peter Ohlin and Becko Copenhaver for inviting me to write this book in the �rst place.
Support was provided by a sabbatical from the College of Charleston during the academic year 2020–21, as
well as by the American Philosophical Association’s Edinburgh Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh’s
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Due to the global pandemic, I was unfortunately unable to
go in person to Edinburgh, but Steve Yearley and Ben Fletcher-Watson at the Institute helped me connect
with the other fellows, many of whom were also working remotely.
Finally, this project would not have been possible without the patient support of my husband Tim and my
daughter Maura, whom I kept waiting far too many times as I told them I just needed to �nish writing one
more sentence.
Abbreviations D
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CSEV Mary Shepherd, “On the Causes of Single and Erect Vision.” m
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Cited by page number, using the 1828 Philosophical ttp
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Magazine version. ://a
EASP Mary Shepherd, “An Essay on the Academical or Sceptical c
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Philosophy.” Cited by page number of the 1827 edition. e
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ECHU John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. ic
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Cited by book, chapter, and section. up
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EHU David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human o
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Understanding. Cited by section and paragraph. /b
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EIP Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man. Cited ok
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by essay and chapter number. 4
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EPEU Mary Shepherd, Essays on the Perception of an External 40
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Universe, and Other Subjects Connected with the Doctrine of h
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Causation. Cited by page number of the 1827 edition. te
ERCE Mary Shepherd, An Essay upon the Relation of Cause and r/3
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Effect. Cited by page number of the 1824 edition. 4
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IHM Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind, upon the 9
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Principles of Common Sense. Cited by chapter and section. 7 b
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L William Lawrence, Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the N
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Natural History of Man. 3rd ed. Cited by page number. w
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LMSM Mary Shepherd, “Lady Mary Shepherd’s Metaphysics.” Cited o
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by page number of the Fraser’s Magazine edition. U
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NTV George Berkeley, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. iv
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Cited by section. rs
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OLMS Mary Shepherd, “Observations by Lady Mary Shepherd on u
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the ‘First Lines of the Human Mind.’ ” Cited by page number er o
of the Parriana edition. n
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ONT Thomas Brown, Observations on the Nature and Tendency of 0 J
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the Doctrine of Mr. Hume. 2nd ed. Cited by page number. n
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2
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xii List of Abbreviations
T David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature. Cited by book,
part, section, and paragraph.
PHK George Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of D
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Human Knowledge. Cited by part and section. w
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Unless noted otherwise, all italics in quotations are in the orig- d
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inal texts. fro
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Shepherd’s Life and Context w
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Mary Shepherd’s Life ttp
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Lady Mary Primrose, later Lady Mary Shepherd, was born near d
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Edinburgh in 1777. She was the second of six children of Neil ic
Primrose, 3rd Earl of Rosebery, and Mary Vincent.1 Unfortunately, .ou
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we know very little of Shepherd’s life; indeed, despite her status as a .co
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member of the aristocracy, it seems that there is no surviving por- /b
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trait of Shepherd as an adult. Our primary source of information k
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about her life is a brief memoir written years later by her daughter 8
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Mary Elizabeth Shepherd Brandreth.2 0/c
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According to the memoir, until her marriage in 1808, Shepherd ap
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resided primarily at her family home outside Edinburgh, r/3
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Barnbougle Castle. Many wealthy families around Edinburgh sent 4
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their daughters to the city for their education,3 but Mary and her 89
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siblings were educated at home. Mary’s two brothers were tutored at 6 b
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home by a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, which they later N
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attended themselves,4 while Mary and her two sisters were taught w Y
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by a “dominie,” or schoolteacher, named Pillans. Pillans taught the rk
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sisters geography, mathematics, history, and, unusually for girls in n
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this period, Latin.5 Shepherd must at some point also have learned ers
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1 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography lists Shepherd as the second of five chil- r o
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dren, but Jennifer McRobert notes that the Primroses had a sixth child who died in in- 3
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fancy. See Perkins, “Shepherd (née Primrose), Lady Mary (1777–1 847), Philosopher” J
and McRobert, “Mary Shepherd and the Causal Relation,” 9. an
2 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections of Seventy Years, 26. ua
3 Glover, Elite Women and Polite Society in Eighteenth- Century Scotland, 33– 34. ry
4 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 116 and 26. 20
5 Glover, Elite Women and Polite Society, 45. 23
Mary Shepherd. Deborah Boyle, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023.
DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780190090326.003.0001
2 Mary Shepherd
French, since her 1827 book shows she could read French; in late
eighteenth- century Scotland, French was viewed as an important
component of girls’ education.6 Presumably, Shepherd would also Do
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have learned sewing and embroidery, music, and dancing, all im- n
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portant parts of a girl’s education at that time. The family attended d
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the local church, then part of the Calvinist Church of Scotland, and fro
Mary Shepherd learned Presbyterian doctrine from her tutor.7 m
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In 1808, Shepherd married barrister Henry John Shepherd ttp
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(1783?– 1855).8 They had three children. While Shepherd and her ://a
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family made London their primary residence, she typically left d
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London in the autumn, going to Cheltenham, Tunbridge Wells, ic
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or Brighton, all popular holiday destinations in early nineteenth- u
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century England. Her comings and goings were duly noted in the .co
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society columns of British newspapers throughout the 1810s, 20s, /b
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and 30s, as is her attendance at balls, concerts, and dinner parties. k
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Her daughter described the intellectual circles in which Shepherd 8
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also moved, writing that her parents “gathered in those days both /c
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the scientific and the literary sides of the learned world, into easy ap
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and intimate intercourse.”9 Their social circle ultimately included r/3
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geologist Charles Lyell; Cambridge philosopher of science William 4
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Whewell; mathematician Mary Somerville; minister, writer, and 89
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early editor of the Edinburgh Review Sydney Smith; economist 6 b
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Thomas Malthus; political economist David Ricardo; and Charles N
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Babbage, inventor of the analytical engine and difference engine, Y
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6 Glover, Elite Women and Polite Society, 32. ity
7 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 27. McRobert notes that u
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Mary’s father, as a Scottish nobleman, would have been expected to support the local e
Presbyterian parish (“Mary Shepherd and the Causal Relation,” 23). r o
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8 The marriage record of Mary Shepherd and Henry John Shepherd lists her as a 3
0
member of the parish of St. George’s Hanover Square, but they married in the Anglican J
church of St. Clement Danes in London (marriage license no. 749, recorded April 11, an
1808; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers, City of Westminster Archives ua
Centre London). The entry for Henry John Shepherd at the History of Parliament online ry
says that they eloped; see Thorne, “Shepherd, Henry John.” 20
9 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 41– 42. 23
Shepherd’s Life and Context 3
early computers.10 Another notable friend of Shepherd was Mary
Shelley.11
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With this busy family and social life, when did Shepherd find o
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time to write her philosophical treatises? We know little about the n
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circumstances of the writing and publishing of her books. Brandreth d
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mentions that her mother wrote “metaphysical disquisitions” about fro
Hume and Priestley before she was married,12 contrasting these m
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with the published books, which Brandreth says “were written ttp
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some years later” and published with Henry John Shepherd’s en- ://a
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couragement.13 The 1824 book, An Essay upon the Relation of Cause ad
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and Effect (henceforth abbreviated as ERCE) was published anon- ic
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ymously; the 1827 book, Essays on the Perception of an External u
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Universe, and Other Subjects Connected with the Doctrine of .co
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Causation (henceforth abbreviated as EPEU) was published under /b
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her name.14 An earlier book, published in Edinburgh in 1819, has ok
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sometimes been attributed to Shepherd but is now known to have 8
4
been written by a James Milne.15 0/c
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10 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 41– 42. r/38
11 See Bennett, ed. The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 2:106n1. 44
12 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 28– 29. While Shepherd’s first 08
book does engage with Hume, the second book has only a footnote referring to Priestley, 99
suggesting that there might have been a separate, earlier essay that engaged more exten- 6 b
sively with Priestley. If so, however, it is as yet unknown. y
13 Brandreth, Some Family and Friendly Recollections, 29. N
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14 The book’s publication was announced in the March 19, 1827, edition of The w
Morning Post, under the heading “This day is published.” There appear to have been two Yo
issues of the book, as the library at the University of Cambridge has two copies that vary rk
in the arrangement and wording of their front matter but not in the main text: one copy U
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includes Shepherd’s name on the title page and one does not (Liam Sims, Rare Books iv
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Specialist at Cambridge University Library, email message to author, January 9, 2020). rs
Curiously, on April 8, 1831, The Courier newspaper included Essays on the Perception ity
of an External Universe, with Shepherd cited as the author, in a list under the heading u
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“Books Published This Day.” If this was a second printing, it seems that no extant copy e
survives. r o
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15 The book sometimes attributed to Shepherd is the Enquiry Respecting the Relation of 3
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Cause and Effect: in which the Theories of Professors Brown, and Mr. Hume, are Examined; J
with a Statement of Such Observations as are Calculated to Shew the Inconsistency of an
these Theories; and from which a New Theory is Deduced, More Consonant to Facts and ua
Experience. Also a New Theory of the Earth, Deduced from Geological Observations, ry
published anonymously by James Ballantyne in Edinburgh in 1819. For discussion, see 20
Boyle, “A Mistaken Attribution to Mary Shepherd.” 23