Alexander Gerard (February 22, 1728 - February 22, 1795), philosophical writer, son of Rev. Gilbert Gerard, was educated at Aberdeen, where he became Professor, first of Natural Philosophy, and afterwards of Divinity, and one of the ministers of the city. As a professor he introduced various reforms. In 1756 he gained the prize for an Essay on Taste which, together with an Essay on Genius , he subsequently published. These treatises, though now superseded, gained for him considerable reputation.