Biography of Richard Whately


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Whately, Richard. Was born in London, February 1, 1787. An eminent prelate, theologian, and mental and moral philosopher. From 1831 to his death, archbishop of Dublin. In 1822 he was made Bampton lecturer, and in that capacity preached his sermons on "The Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in Religion." In 1825 he became principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford. Four years later Whately was appointed professor of political economy, an office which he held until his appointment to the archbishopric. Whately's intellectual activity was remarkable. In 1820, he wrote "Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte," a logical satire upon historical skepticism. In 1826 he published in a separate form his treatises on "Logic and Rhetoric," both of which had already appeared in the "Encyclopedia Metropolitana," and in 1856-59 he published his annotated editions of Bacon's "Essays" and Paley's "Moral Philosophy," both admirable specimens of criticism, and full of interesting original discourse. Whately died in Dublin, 1863.