MACKAY
MACKINTOSH
pathetic to advanced movements (McCabe s
George Jacob Holyoake, i, 157). D.
Dec. 24, 1889.
MACKAY, Robert William, M.A., philosophical writer. B. May 27, 1803. Ed. Oxford (Brasenose College). In 1828 he was admitted to Lincoln s Inn, but he turned from the law to the study of theology and philosophy. Hamerton speaks of him in his Autobiography (p. 146) as much absorbed in theology ; and he was, like Hamerton, a Theist. His chief work, The Progress of the Intellect (2 vols.), was published in 1850. His Eationalism is more clearly expressed in his Sketch of the Eise and Progress of Christianity (1854). He translated two of Plato s Dialogues, and was a fine literary scholar as well as a reputable thinker. D. Feb. 23, 1882.
MACKENZIE, Professor John Stuart,
M.A., LL.D., Litt.D., philosopher. B. Feb. 29, 1860. Ed. Glasgow, Cambridge, and Berlin Universities. He was G. A. Clark Fellow of Glasgow University 1882- 84, Shaw Philosophical Fellowof Edinburgh University 1884-89, Fellow of Trinity Col lege, Cambridge, 1890-96, assistant lecturer on philosophy and Cobden lecturer on poli tical economy at Owen s College 1890-93, and professor of logic and philosophy at the University College of South Wales 1895-1915. Professor Mackenzie has for twenty years taken an active interest in the Ethical Movement. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Ethics, and he was for eight years (1908-16) President of the Moral Education League. In his Manual of Ethics (1893) he observes that it is time to discard the doctrines of Christianity, and " what remains essential in religion is the reality of the moral life " (p. 450). In A Generation of Religious Progress (1916, p. 93) he writes : " Most religious creeds are really as difficult to understand as philosophical theories, and have the addi tional disadvantage of having to be ac cepted without definite proof." His chief 469
work is Elements of Constructive Philoso
phy (1917).
MACKEY, Sampson Arnold, astro nomical writer. Mackey was a shoemaker of Norwich who became an amateur astro nomer, and followed the theory of astro nomical mythology. He wrote The Mytho logical Astronomy of the Ancients (2 parts, 1822 and 1823), A Companion to the Mytho logical Astronomy (1824-25), Pious Frauds (1826), and The Age of Mental Emancipa tion (3 parts, 1836-39). D. 1846.
MACKINTOSH, Sir James, philosopher. B. Oct. 24, 1765. Ed. King s College, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh University. In 1788 he settled in London, and he gave cordial support to Home Tooke and the humanitarians. Against Burke he wrote a famous defence of the early French Revo lution (VindicicB Gallicce, 1791) ; though in later years he abandoned the advanced political opinions of his youth. He was called to the Bar (Lincoln s Inn) in 1795, and prospered in the legal profession. In 1803 he was knighted and appointed Eecorder of Bombay. He returned to England in 1811, and two years later he entered Parliament, where he conspicuously supported liberal reforms, especially in criminal law. From 1818 to 1824 Sir James was professor of law at Haileybury College, and in 1830 he was appointed Commissioner to the Board of Control. His chief work is his Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy (1830), a moderate Utilitarian treatise. Sir James was one of the brilliant group of Ration alists who foregathered at Holland House. Allen, who often met him there, says that he made a declaration of religion on his death-bed, though he " had never believed at all during life " (Greville s Memoirs, iii, 331). This is inaccurately expressed, as Mackintosh had always been a liberal Theist, and the attempt of his pious son to wring from him a profession of Chris tianity when he was dying was a failure (Memoirs of the Life of Sir J. Mackintosh,
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