H/E was the son of the minister of a parish, called the chapel of Garioch, in Aberdeenshire, and was born in 1728.In July, 1752, lie was admitted professor of moral philosophy in Marischal College.In August, 1755, he submits in a printed paper an improved plan of education for the college.He argues powerfully against the established practice of reaching logic in the early years of the course.
He recommends that the curriculum consist: First year, classics; second year, history and elementary mathematics;third year, natural philosophy, with belles-lettres and mathematics; fourth year, pneumatology, or natural philosophy of spirit, including the doctrine of the nature, faculties, and states of the human mind, and natural theology; moral philosophy, containing ethics, jurisprudence, and politics, -- the study of these being accompanied with a perusal of some of the best ancient moralists; logic, or the laws and rules of inventing, proving, retaining, and communicating knowledge; and metaphysics.This is, in many respects, an enlightened course, but confines the attention of every student too exclusively to one department for the year, -- whereas the mind works better with some variety, -- and does not give a sufficient space to classics and English.This course was substantially adopted by the college, which thus came to differ from the other Scotch universities.
It is indicative of a strong desire on the part of an enlightened body of men to promote elegance and refinement in their country, that the Edinburgh Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Sciences, Manufactures, and Agriculture offered a premium for the best essay on "Taste,"the phrase " taste " having come unfortunately into use as the translation of the French "gout" The prize was gained by Gerard, and the work was published in 1759, the publisher adding three dissertations by Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Montesquieu.Anxious to promote the objects of the above-named society, he offered through it a gold medal on style in composition.In the same year, he was chosen professor of divinity in Marischal, and, in 1773, he became professor of divinity in King's College, and his attention was thus called away from philosophy.In 1766, he published "Dissertations on Subjects relating to the Genius and Evidences of Christianity." Still cherishing his old tastes, he published, in 1774, an " Essay on Genius," meant to be the complement of his work on ,Taste." He wrote also "Sermons," in two volumes; "The Pastoral Care;" and "The Evidences of the Christian Religion."He is best known by his work on " Taste." He enlarges the number of senses or tastes far beyond what Hutcheson or any other has done, -- illustrating the sense or taste of novelty, sublimity, beauty, imitation, harmony, oddity and ridicule, and virtue, and shows bow they all enter into fine taste He calls them internal or reflex senses, as distinguished from external senses.He does not enter upon a searching inquiry into their psychological nature, nor seek to determine what objective reality is implied in them: he contents himself with a graceful pleasant exposition and illustration.{192} In his other philosophical work, he describes genius as the faculty of invention, treats of such interesting subjects as the influence of habit and passion on association, and quotes largely from the best writers of Greece and Rome, France and England; but shows little analytic or metaphysical acumen.By his lectures and works, he helped to create and foster a literary taste in the region of which Aberdeen claims to be the capital, and is believed to have had influence on the studies and teaching of Beattie.Beattie is said to allude to him, when he speaks of a person who "by two hours' application could fix a sermon in his mind so effectively as to be able to recite it in public without the change, omission, or transposition of a single word." He died in 1795
