Never before reprinted since the 19th century. A newly typeset edition edited from the first and second editions with some critical and many bibliographical notes. Of most interest will be Dabney's treatment of Evolution. Preface by Prof. C. N. Willborn (Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary). Considered by Dabney as one of His most Significant Books

Some Chapter Headings: Positivism, Evolution Theory, Physiological Materialism, Spirituality Of The Mind, Evolution Theory Materialistic, And Therefore False, Validity Of À-Priori Notions, Origin Of À-Priori Notions, Refutation Of Sensualistic Ethics, Philosophy And The Supernatural, The Evolution Of Human Souls

Robert Lewis Dabney was perhaps the greatest of the 19th century Southern Presbyterian theologians. "He wrote ably on theology, politics, government, education, culture, and history." Yet he considered two of his books on philosophy to be in his own opinion his most worthwhile contributions. Next to The Practical Philosophy, Dabney considered The Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century Considered (1875 and 1887) as his ablest work. He was, not unlike a number of very able eighteenth and nineteenth century theologians, a practitioner of Scottish Common Sense Realism. Yet, he has recently been described as an eclectic in his utilization of the Common Sense Philosophy. Certainly he was no slave to a philosophical system that was in his day in substantial flux. Still it is accurate for categorization to label him a Common Sense Realist. As a Scottish Realist he held tenaciously to "that class of truths known as primary cognition, innate ideas, [and] first truths." Dabney held these "first truths," to be "faith assumptions," to borrow from Dr. Douglas Kelly. As such, the "first truths" influenced and shaped human reasoning. Furthermore, Kelly likened Dabney to Cornelius Van Til in the way he consistently showed how non-theists "reasoned on the basis of unproven, faith assumptions."

Author

R. L. Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was an American Christian theologian, a Southern Presbyterian pastor, and Confederate Army chaplain.