During a teaching and writing career of more than forty years at Edinburgh, Dugald Stewart exercised an immense influence on the minds of men in Britain, Europe, and America. That influence did not arise from innovative qualities in Stewart's work, for at few points did he lay claim to any substantial originality; his philosophy merely modified and extended that of Thomas Reid, whom Stewart succeeded as the leading figure in the Scottish school of commonsense philosophy. Stewart's importance lies rather in his role as a teacher, interpreter, and popularizer of the commonsense philosophy. His major works are best described as textbooks of philosophy, some of which became required reading at the most influential American universities and all of which enjoyed great popularity among America's educated readers. Stewart's seminal place in American university curriculums enabled him to reach some of the best young minds in the generations following the...