Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dudgeon, William (fl.1765)

by James McMullen Rigg

DUDGEON, WILLIAM (fl. 1765), philosophical writer, resided in Berwickshire. He published:

1. ‘The State of the Moral World considered; or a Vindication of Providence in the Government of the Moral World,’ 1732, 8vo (an attempt to solve the problem of the existence of evil).
2. ‘Philosophical Letters concerning the Being and Attributes of God,’ 1737, 8vo (addressed to the Rev. Mr. Jackson, a follower of Clarke. Dudgeon argues that Clarke's principles involve the conclusion that God is the only substance).
3. ‘A Catechism founded upon Experience and Reason. Collected by a Father for the use of his Children,’ with an ‘Introductory Letter to a Friend concerning Natural Religion,’ 1744, 8vo (here natural religion is treated as the common element in all religious systems which alone is true).

A collective edition of the foregoing appeared, under the title of ‘The Philosophical Works of Mr. William Dudgeon,’ in 1765, 8vo.

[Brit. Mus. Cat.]

J. M. R.