Samuel Bailey facts for kids

Samuel Bailey (born July 5, 1791 – died January 18, 1870) was a British thinker, writer, and expert on money matters. People sometimes called him the "Bentham of Hallamshire" because he was a bit like the famous philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

Samuel Bailey's Life Story

Samuel Bailey was born in Sheffield, England, on July 5, 1791. His father, Joseph Bailey, was a merchant who traveled to the United States to set up trade.

After working in his father's business for a few years, Samuel Bailey became quite wealthy. He stopped working full-time but stayed involved with the Sheffield Banking Company. He helped start this bank in 1831 and was its leader for many years.

Even though he strongly believed in liberal ideas, he didn't get deeply involved in politics. He tried twice to become a Member of Parliament for Sheffield, running as a "philosophic radical" (someone who wanted big changes based on logical thinking). However, he didn't win either time.

Most of his life was spent writing and publishing many different books and essays. He passed away suddenly on January 18, 1870. He left over £80,000 to the town of Sheffield for public use, which was a very large sum of money at the time!

Samuel Bailey's Ideas and Writings

Samuel Bailey wrote many important books and essays. His first book, Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions, came out in 1821. It was published without his name on it, but it became very popular. He wrote a follow-up book in 1829 called Essays on the Pursuit of Truth.

He also wrote about money and politics. In 1825, he published A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value. In this book, he disagreed with the ideas of another famous economist, David Ricardo. He also wrote about Free banking, which is a system where banks can create money without much government control.

Later, in 1842, he wrote A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision. This book caused some debate, and other famous thinkers like John Stuart Mill wrote replies to him. Bailey then wrote a Letter to a Philosopher in 1843 to answer his critics.

In 1851, he published Theory of Reasoning, where he looked at how we make sense of things and criticized the traditional way of thinking called the syllogism. He also wrote Discourses on Various Subjects in 1852.

His most important philosophical ideas are found in his Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind. These were published in three parts between 1855 and 1863. In these letters, he explored many big questions about how our minds work and what is right and wrong.

Bailey believed that we learn about the world mostly through our senses and experiences. This idea is called Empiricism. He thought that to understand the mind, we should look inward at our own thoughts and feelings, a method called introspection. He also believed that what we call "mental faculties" (like memory or imagination) are just ways to group together different things our consciousness does.

When it came to how we see things, Bailey thought that seeing external objects through our senses is a direct mental action. He believed this act couldn't be broken down into simpler parts and that its reality couldn't be proven or disproven.

Morality and Utilitarianism

In the area of morals, Samuel Bailey supported an idea called utilitarianism. This idea suggests that the best actions are those that bring the most happiness or "utility" to the most people. He didn't like the word "utility" much because he thought it sounded too simple or selfish.

He explained how we develop our sense of duty and what is right. He based all moral behavior on five main facts:

• People can feel pleasure and pain.
• People like (or dislike) what causes them pleasure or pain.
• People want to give back pleasure or pain they receive.
• People expect others to do the same.
• People feel some connection or sympathy with the feelings of others.

Bailey was also a big fan of Shakespeare. One of his last works was about Shakespeare's plays, called On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings and its Improvement (1862).

Works

• Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions (1821)
• Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, Metaphysics, &c. (1823)
• A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value (1825)
• A Letter to a Political Economist (1826)
• Essays on the Pursuit of Truth, &c. (1829)
• Discussion of Parliamentary Reform (1831)
• The Rationale of Political Representation (1835)
• Right of Primogeniture Examined (1837)
• Money and Its Vicissitudes in Value (1837)
• Defence of Joint-Stock Banks (1840)
• A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision (1842)
• Letter to a Philosopher in Reply to Some Recent Attempts to Vindicate &c. (1843)
• Maro; or, Poetic irritability (1845)
• The Theory of Reasoning (1851)
• Discourses on Various Subjects (1852)
• Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind (three series, 1855, 1858, 1863)
• On the received text of Shakespeare's dramatic writings and its Improvement (1862–1866)

Images for kids

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  Title page: Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions 1st ed. (1821)

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  Critical dissertation on the nature, measures, and causes of value, 1931

See also

In Spanish: Samuel Bailey para niños