1705-1757

English Physician and Philosopher

David Hartley was an English physician who developed an influential philosophy of thinking known as associationism. Hartley strove to explain how the mind and consciousness functioned; and he speculated that the mind is able to work by the association of sensations and the cumulative experiences of life, or memories. Hartley was also influential in suggesting that the mind and body do not function independently of each other but work together in concert.

Hartley was the son of a poor Anglican clergyman; his mother died before he was a year old and his father died while he was a young boy. He entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1722 where he studied mathematics and divinity; he received his Bachelors in 1727 and his Masters in 1729. This course of education would have led to a career in the Anglican ministry, but Hartley was not willing to...