The editor of this book, William Duncan, was a professor of philosophy at his alma mater, Marischal College in Aberdeen (also known for producing John Blair, who founded the College of William & Mary). Duncan was a skilled Latinist, and he made a considerable amount of money for contracting with publisher Robert Dodsley in 1744 for his publication of Caesar’s account of the Gallic wars, which included the Latin, the English, and scholarly notes.
Duncan was also well-educated in philosophy. His most popular work, Elements of Logick, combined John Locke’s theory of knowledge, which criticized innate knowledge and emphasized experience, with syllogism. This book was “designed particularly for Young Gentlemen at the University, and to prepare the Way to the Study of Philosophy and the Mathematicks,” and an American edition was published by Matthew Carey twenty-four years after the original publication date.
This book, Cicero’s Select Orations, was originally published in 1756, only four years before Duncan’s death. He would die at only 43 years old, with a continuation project of Thomas Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of Augustus left unfinished.
Bibliography
Duncan, W. (1748). The elements of logick. In four books. By W. Duncan. printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall.
Haakonssen, Knud, ed. The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Rockwood, Nathan. “Locke: Epistemology.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://iep.utm.edu/locke-ep/.
Sher, R. B. (2006). The Enlightenment & the Book : Scottish authors & their publishers in eighteenth-century Britain, Ireland, & America / Richard B. Sher. (1st ed.). University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226752549
Tate, Thad, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "James Blair (ca. 1655–1743)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 01 Aug. 2024