 For McCosh, the heart of ‘the Scottish philosophy’ lay in its combination of observational methods of inquiry with moral and religious formation. “Ever since I became a teacher of the science of mind” he writes, “I have given more attention to philosophy than theology. In doing this I have been able to serve religion more effectively than any other course I could have taken” (McCosh 1896, 251). Given this account of what made the Scottish philosophy distinctive, it is easy to see why McCosh thought the philosophical schools becoming fashionable in Scotland signalled its demise. The materialism of Bain fastened on the former (observational methods) but abandoned the latter (moral formation), while the Idealism of Caird abandoned the former in the interests of the latter.