Samuel Bailey
| Samuel Bailey | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 July 1791 Dunstable, England |
| Died | 18 January 1870 (aged 78) Sheffield, England |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Utilitarianism, liberalism |
|
Main interests
|
Economics, political philosophy, inductive logic |
Samuel Bailey (5 July 1791 – 18 January 1870) was a British philosopher and writer. He was called the "Bentham of Hallamshire".
Bailey was born at Sheffield on 5 July 1791, the son of Joseph Bailey and Mary Eadon. His father was among the first of those Sheffield merchants who went to the United States to establish trade connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired from all business concerns with an ample fortune, although he remained connected with the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was a founder in 1831 and served as chairman for many years. Although an ardent liberal, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions, he stood for Sheffield as a "philosophic radical" parliamentary candidate, but without success.
His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. He died suddenly on 18 January 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town trustees of Sheffield for public use.
His first work, Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions, published anonymously in 1821, attracted more attention than any of his other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, Essays on the Pursuit of Truth. Between these two were Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, &c. (1823), and a Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value (1825), directed against the opinions of David Ricardo and his school.
His next publications also were on economic or political subjects, Rationale of Political Representation (1835), and Money and its Vicissitudes (1837) and he has been regarded as one of the main theorists of Free banking. About the same time, there also appeared some of his pamphlets, Discussion of Parliamentary Reform, Right of Primogeniture Examined, Defence of Joint-Stock Banks. In 1842 appeared his Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision which called forth rejoinders from John Stuart Mill in the Westminster Review and from James Frederick Ferrier in Blackwood's Magazine. Bailey replied to his critics in a Letter to a Philosopher (1843), &c.
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