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This collection of articles (the Vercelli conference proceedings) places the theme of scepticism within its philosophical tradition. It explores the English philosophical thinkers, the French context, as well as major Italian figures and Spanish culture. It pays special attention to the relationships between history of philosophical ideas and the problems rising from the history of sciences (medicine, physics, linguistics, historical scholarship) in the 17th and the18th centuries.
This book presents a comprehensive interpretation of Hume's 'serious reflection' on religion from the perspective afforded by his philosophical project and its Enlightened ends. I relate his account of the origin, development, and significant effects of religious beliefs to his own historical works, and conversely take the former as the leading thread into the disclosure of a Humean philosophy of history. I also critically analyze his views about the eminently irrational and feigned character of most religious faith and its inevitable negative effect on morality. Finally, I examine Hume's attack on the validity of the conclusions of rational theology. Reasonable support is provided for the claim that the belief in God, as an intelligent author of the universe, is a natural and reasonable belief. This work may interest both scholars and general readers who are intrigued or troubled by religion and the issues 'of the utmost importance' which it raises.
The Christianopolis (1619) of Johann Valentin Andreae describes in great detail a utopian community of scholar-craftsmen, as seen through the eyes of a naïve young traveller. It is a multi-level text, carefully constructed to provide both entertainment and a critique of contemporary society and religion, which could also be read as the prospectus for the establishment of a new community. This new translation aims to clarify Andreae's elliptical Latin for the first time by identifying parallel passages, allusions and sources for his ideas, and by linking Christianopolis with Andreae's other work as satirist, dramatist, poet and mathematician. A new model of his revision of ideas drawn from Campanella is put forward, and the politico-economic principles embodied in the text are explored. The translation should be of interest to students of the history of utopian ideas, and the history of economic thought.
A distinguished group of international scholars from the disciplines of history, philosophy, literature and art history offer a reconsideration of the ideas and the impact of the abbé Henri Grégoire, one of the most important figures of the French Revolution and a contributor to the campaigns for Jewish emancipation, rights for blacks, the reform of the Catholic Church and many other causes
This edition of the Life of Henry More by Richard Ward is the outcome of twin initiatives: from Rupert Hall and from delegates at the conference on the Cambridge Platonists held at Nantes in 1993. The project took shape at a meeting of the editorial team at Christ's College in 1994. The editors wish to express their thanks to the Master and Fellows of Christ's College for permission to print the unpublished manuscript section of Ward's Life and for their generosity in supporting the project. We also thank the British Academy for the Major Research Award towards the cost of producing the printed copy. We thank John L. Dawson, Manager of the Literary and Linguistic Computing Centre of the Univ...
In Elements, Principles and Particles, Antonio Clericuzio explores the relationships between chemistry and corpuscular philosophy in the age of the Scientific Revolution. Science historians have regarded chemistry and corpuscular philosophy as two distinct traditions. Clericuzio's view is that since the beginning of the 17th century atomism and chemistry were strictly connected. This is attested by Daniel Sennert and by many hitherto little-known French and English natural philosophers. They often combined a corpuscular theory of matter with Paracelsian chemical (and medical) doctrines. Boyle plays a central part in the present book: Clericuzio redefines Boyle's chemical views, by showing th...
Johann Valentin Andrere (1586-1654) was a multi-faceted product of late Reformation Germany. A theologian who was firmly committed to the Lutheran confession, he could yet see very c1early the flaws in his church and argue for their reform; without being an ecumenicist in the modern sense, he yet admired many aspects of the society he observed in Calvinist Geneva, and he recognised the outstanding merit of individual Catholic scholars. A linguist and a lover of art and music, he was the friend of scientists and an enthusiastic student of mathematics whö held that science leads both to an appreciation of the wonders of the material world and its rejection in favour of more spiritual concerns...
This is the first investigation of the history of Russian Freemasonry, based on the premise that the facts of the Russian Enlightenment preclude application of the interpretative framework commonly used for the history of western thought. Coverage includes the development of early Russian masonry, the formation of the Novikov circle in Moscow, the ‘programme’ of Rosicrucianism and its Russian variant and, finally, the clash between the Rosicrucians and the State.
Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) was a major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment whose thought was, in many respects, original and distinctive. This book is a study of his ideas and of the intellectual forces that shaped them. Though somewhat overlooked in the nineteenth century, Ferguson was rescued from obscurity in the first half of the twentieth century by scholars interested in the origins of sociology and early critiques of modernity. Ferguson’s interest in the mechanics of social life and especially social change led him to many groundbreaking insights. In fact, he is sometimes identified as the 'Father of Modern Sociology'. In addition to exploring whether or not he merits this title, th...
This book deals with one of the most pervasive ways by which people have addressed authority throughout history: petitioning. The book explores traditional practices and institutions, as well as the transformation of petitions as vehicles of popular politics. The ability or the right to petition was also a crucial element for the development and operation of early modern empires, playing a major role on the negotiated patterns of the Atlantic World. This book shows how petitions were used in Europe, America and Africa, by the governors and the governed, by the rich and the poor, by the colonists and the colonised and by the liberal and the reactionary groups. Broken down into three thematic parts, encompassing both in chronological and geographical scope, the book deepens our understanding of petitioning and its relation with ideas of consent and subjecthood, nationality and citizenship, political participation and democracy. This book provides a rare comparative platform for the study of a subject that has been receiving growing interest.