John Abercrombie

The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie (1780-1844) was a Scottish physician and philosopher. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and after graduating as M. D. in 1803 he settled down to practise in that city, where he soon attained a leading position. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of France and First Physician to Her Majesty in Scotland. From 1816 he published various papers in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, which formed the basis of his more extensive works: Pathological and Practical Researches on Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord regarded as the first textbook in neuropathology, and Researches on the Diseases of the Intestinal Canal, Liver and Other Viscera of the Abdomen, both published in 1828. He also found time for philosophical speculations, and in 1830 he published his Inquiries Concerning the Intellectual Powers of Man and the Investigation of Truth, which was followed in 1833 by a sequel, The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings.