Associationist Sensationalism vs Scottish Common Sense

Abstract Theoretical philosophy in the early years of the nineteenth century was dominated by the debate between the English school of sensationalist associationism and the Scottish school of common sense, which rivalry had developed through the eighteenth century and was still playing out. We can get a sense of this rivalry at the beginning of the century by looking at its two chief figures, Dugald Stewart and James Mill. That these two schools were not always quite so far apart as they themselves thought is demonstrated by examining the philosophy of Thomas Brown who attempted a species of synthesis between them. To finish, the chapter further illuminates the state of theoretical philosophy in the early years of the nineteenth century by examining how the metaphysical notion of causation was treated by three different philosophers, Thomas Brown, Willian Hamilton, and Mary Shepherd.