Thomas Davidson's 1896 Essay on Aristotle
Channel: Craig Campbell
Date: 2015-05-13

Plato or Aristotle?

Thomas Davidson was born in Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, October 25, 1840. He received his education in the common schools of his native town, and in the University of Aberdeen, where he acquired, as a second nature, the habit of exact scholarship. What this training meant for him may be inferred from the fact that he used to say, with a full knowledge of the school systems of all lands, that if he had to be educated over again and could choose his schools and masters, he would go through precisely the same training that he had enjoyed. 

When still a very young man he came to America and, after a brief sojourn in Canada, made his way to Boston. Later he removed to St. Louis where he taught for a time in the public schools, and where he made the acquaintance of the famous little group of St. Louis philosophers, most of whom became his life friends. 

But Mr. Davidson was a born dissenter who could not and would not fit into any niche. He chafed under all restraint, and was not entirely contented until he finally found his liberty in the life of a free lance, lecturing, writing, teaching private classes, and in this way earning his modest livelihood while holding himself responsible to himself alone and to his own lofty ideals. Opportunities for University preferment came, but he refused to surrender one jot of his freedom.

From A Democratic Philosopher and His Work. Thomas Davidson: Born Oct. 25, 1840. Died Sept. 14, 1900

The Memoirs of Thomas Davidson were published in 1907
https://archive.org/details/cu31924031775186