Ben Brice
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199290253
- eISBN:
- 9780191710483
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290253.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
Coleridge tended to view objects in the natural world as if they were capable of articulating truths about his own poetic psyche. He also regarded such objects as if they were capable of illustrating ...
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Coleridge tended to view objects in the natural world as if they were capable of articulating truths about his own poetic psyche. He also regarded such objects as if they were capable of illustrating and embodying truths about a transcendent spiritual realm. After 1805, he posited a series of analogical ‘likenesses’ connecting the rational principles that inform human cognition with the rational principles that he believed informed the teleological structure of the natural world. Although he intuitively felt that nature had been constructed as a ‘mirror’ of the human mind, and that both mind and nature were ‘mirrors’ of a transcendent spiritual realm, he never found an explanation of such experiences that was fully immune to his own sceptical doubts. This book examines the nature of these doubts, and offers a new explanatory account of why Coleridge was unable to affirm his religious intuitions. The book situates his work within two important intellectual traditions. The first — a tradition of epistemological ‘piety’ or ‘modesty’ — informs the work of key precursors such as Kant, Hume, Locke, Boyle, and Calvin, and relates to Protestant critiques of natural reason. The second — a tradition of theological voluntarism — emphasizes the omnipotence and transcendence of God, as well as the arbitrary relationship subsisting between God and the created world. It is argued that Coleridge's familiarity with both of these interrelated intellectual traditions undermined his confidence in his ability to read the symbolic language of God in nature.Less
Coleridge tended to view objects in the natural world as if they were capable of articulating truths about his own poetic psyche. He also regarded such objects as if they were capable of illustrating and embodying truths about a transcendent spiritual realm. After 1805, he posited a series of analogical ‘likenesses’ connecting the rational principles that inform human cognition with the rational principles that he believed informed the teleological structure of the natural world. Although he intuitively felt that nature had been constructed as a ‘mirror’ of the human mind, and that both mind and nature were ‘mirrors’ of a transcendent spiritual realm, he never found an explanation of such experiences that was fully immune to his own sceptical doubts. This book examines the nature of these doubts, and offers a new explanatory account of why Coleridge was unable to affirm his religious intuitions. The book situates his work within two important intellectual traditions. The first — a tradition of epistemological ‘piety’ or ‘modesty’ — informs the work of key precursors such as Kant, Hume, Locke, Boyle, and Calvin, and relates to Protestant critiques of natural reason. The second — a tradition of theological voluntarism — emphasizes the omnipotence and transcendence of God, as well as the arbitrary relationship subsisting between God and the created world. It is argued that Coleridge's familiarity with both of these interrelated intellectual traditions undermined his confidence in his ability to read the symbolic language of God in nature.
Walter Ott
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199570430
- eISBN:
- 9780191722394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570430.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
It is tempting to read Boyle as offering an updated version of concurrentism. But unlike the concurrentists, Boyle does not think that God works through bodies as his instruments to produce effects.
It is tempting to read Boyle as offering an updated version of concurrentism. But unlike the concurrentists, Boyle does not think that God works through bodies as his instruments to produce effects.
T. A. Cavanaugh
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199272198
- eISBN:
- 9780191604157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199272190.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter addresses Knauer’s proportionalism as a consequentialist misinterpretation of double effect. It considers anti-consequentialist alternatives to DER, specifically Alan Donagan’s casuistry ...
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This chapter addresses Knauer’s proportionalism as a consequentialist misinterpretation of double effect. It considers anti-consequentialist alternatives to DER, specifically Alan Donagan’s casuistry of material guilt and Frances Kamm’s non-absolutist Principle of Permissible Harm. Recent accounts of double effect, specifically those of Warren Quinn and the trio of Finnis, Grisez, and Boyle are found wanting.Less
This chapter addresses Knauer’s proportionalism as a consequentialist misinterpretation of double effect. It considers anti-consequentialist alternatives to DER, specifically Alan Donagan’s casuistry of material guilt and Frances Kamm’s non-absolutist Principle of Permissible Harm. Recent accounts of double effect, specifically those of Warren Quinn and the trio of Finnis, Grisez, and Boyle are found wanting.
Stephen Gaukroger
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199296446
- eISBN:
- 9780191711985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296446.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The development of the persona of the natural philosopher is the key to understanding how natural philosophy becomes inserted into European culture in the 16th and 17th centuries. This chapter shows ...
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The development of the persona of the natural philosopher is the key to understanding how natural philosophy becomes inserted into European culture in the 16th and 17th centuries. This chapter shows in detail that notions of truth and justification turn just as much on conceptions of intellectual honesty as they do on notions of method. It looks primarily at the standing of the natural philosopher in Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, and Royal Society apologists, focusing on claims that the natural philosopher requires a kind of intellectual honesty lacking in scholastic natural philosophy. This is closely tied in with one of the distinctive features of early-modern natural philosophy: that questions that had earlier been seen in terms of truth are now discussed instead in terms of impartiality and objectivity.Less
The development of the persona of the natural philosopher is the key to understanding how natural philosophy becomes inserted into European culture in the 16th and 17th centuries. This chapter shows in detail that notions of truth and justification turn just as much on conceptions of intellectual honesty as they do on notions of method. It looks primarily at the standing of the natural philosopher in Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, and Royal Society apologists, focusing on claims that the natural philosopher requires a kind of intellectual honesty lacking in scholastic natural philosophy. This is closely tied in with one of the distinctive features of early-modern natural philosophy: that questions that had earlier been seen in terms of truth are now discussed instead in terms of impartiality and objectivity.
John R. B. Lighton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195310610
- eISBN:
- 9780199871414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195310610.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Biotechnology
This chapter describes the evolution of respirometry from Leonardo da Vinci's musings onwards. The works of Boyle, the brilliant and prophetic Mayow, and the well-intentioned but misguided Priestley ...
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This chapter describes the evolution of respirometry from Leonardo da Vinci's musings onwards. The works of Boyle, the brilliant and prophetic Mayow, and the well-intentioned but misguided Priestley are described. The bizarre dead-end theory of phlogiston and its apparent validity to the scientists of the day are explained in historical context. The breakthroughs of Lavoisier and Paulze, who realized the central role of oxygen and pioneered the quantitative measurement of metabolism, end the conventional historical part of the chapter, which concludes with a brief description of the deep history of the molecules most important to respirometry.Less
This chapter describes the evolution of respirometry from Leonardo da Vinci's musings onwards. The works of Boyle, the brilliant and prophetic Mayow, and the well-intentioned but misguided Priestley are described. The bizarre dead-end theory of phlogiston and its apparent validity to the scientists of the day are explained in historical context. The breakthroughs of Lavoisier and Paulze, who realized the central role of oxygen and pioneered the quantitative measurement of metabolism, end the conventional historical part of the chapter, which concludes with a brief description of the deep history of the molecules most important to respirometry.
Noel Malcolm and Jacqueline Stedall
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198564843
- eISBN:
- 9780191713750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198564843.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
The mathematician John Pell was a member of the Royal Society and one of the generation of scientists that included Boyle, Wren, and Hooke. Although he left a huge body of manuscript materials, he ...
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The mathematician John Pell was a member of the Royal Society and one of the generation of scientists that included Boyle, Wren, and Hooke. Although he left a huge body of manuscript materials, he has remained a neglected figure, whose papers have never been properly explored. This book is a full-length study of Pell and presents an in-depth account of his life and mathematical thinking based on a detailed study of his manuscripts. It also brings to life a strange, appealing, but awkward character, whose failure to publish his discoveries was caused by powerful scruples. In addition, this book shows that the range of Pell's interests extended far beyond mathematics. He was a key member of the circle of the ‘intelligencer’ Samuel Hartlib; he prepared translations of works by Descartes and Comenius; in the 1650s he served as Cromwell's envoy to Switzerland; and in the last part of his life he was an active member of the Royal Society, interested in the whole range of its activities. The study of Pell's life and thought thus illuminates many different aspects of 17th-century intellectual life. The book is in three parts. The first is a detailed biography of Pell; the second is an extended essay on his mathematical work; the third is a richly annotated edition of his correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish. This correspondence, which has often been cited by scholars but has never been published in full, is concerned not only with mathematics but also with optics, philosophy, and many other subjects. Conducted mainly while Pell was in the Netherlands and Cavendish was also on the Continent, it is a fascinating example of the correspondence that flourished in the 17th-century ‘Republic of Letters’.Less
The mathematician John Pell was a member of the Royal Society and one of the generation of scientists that included Boyle, Wren, and Hooke. Although he left a huge body of manuscript materials, he has remained a neglected figure, whose papers have never been properly explored. This book is a full-length study of Pell and presents an in-depth account of his life and mathematical thinking based on a detailed study of his manuscripts. It also brings to life a strange, appealing, but awkward character, whose failure to publish his discoveries was caused by powerful scruples. In addition, this book shows that the range of Pell's interests extended far beyond mathematics. He was a key member of the circle of the ‘intelligencer’ Samuel Hartlib; he prepared translations of works by Descartes and Comenius; in the 1650s he served as Cromwell's envoy to Switzerland; and in the last part of his life he was an active member of the Royal Society, interested in the whole range of its activities. The study of Pell's life and thought thus illuminates many different aspects of 17th-century intellectual life. The book is in three parts. The first is a detailed biography of Pell; the second is an extended essay on his mathematical work; the third is a richly annotated edition of his correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish. This correspondence, which has often been cited by scholars but has never been published in full, is concerned not only with mathematics but also with optics, philosophy, and many other subjects. Conducted mainly while Pell was in the Netherlands and Cavendish was also on the Continent, it is a fascinating example of the correspondence that flourished in the 17th-century ‘Republic of Letters’.
S. J. Connolly
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199543472
- eISBN:
- 9780191716553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199543472.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Continued friction over Ireland's constitutional status found expression in key texts of patriot constitutional argument by William Molyneux and Jonathan Swift. Following the Wood's Halfpence ...
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Continued friction over Ireland's constitutional status found expression in key texts of patriot constitutional argument by William Molyneux and Jonathan Swift. Following the Wood's Halfpence controversy the emergence of a working arrangement between government and local undertakers, based on a sharing of official patronage, brought greater stability. Charles Lucas's challenge to the system, coming from outside the political elite, was ruthlessly crushed. But the Money Bill dispute of 1753-6, initiated by the leading undertaker Henry Boyle in response to a challenge from the rising Ponsonby interest and the primate George Stone, divided the political elite and aroused popular political discontent.Less
Continued friction over Ireland's constitutional status found expression in key texts of patriot constitutional argument by William Molyneux and Jonathan Swift. Following the Wood's Halfpence controversy the emergence of a working arrangement between government and local undertakers, based on a sharing of official patronage, brought greater stability. Charles Lucas's challenge to the system, coming from outside the political elite, was ruthlessly crushed. But the Money Bill dispute of 1753-6, initiated by the leading undertaker Henry Boyle in response to a challenge from the rising Ponsonby interest and the primate George Stone, divided the political elite and aroused popular political discontent.
Catherine Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199238811
- eISBN:
- 9780191716492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238811.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter presents an example of the manner in which the purely hypothetical atom of the ancients was introduced into the experimental philosophy of the Royal Society. Lucretius had posited that ...
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This chapter presents an example of the manner in which the purely hypothetical atom of the ancients was introduced into the experimental philosophy of the Royal Society. Lucretius had posited that the ambient air contained a mixture of toxic and salubrious particles that were taken in by the human body, explaining contagious illness and poisoning. Both Robert Boyle and John Mayow devised experiments with the aim of ascertaining the characteristics and powers of these invisible particles. Mayow's intelligent and prescient speculations regarding the vital component in the atmosphere, the ‘aerial niter’, were however repudiated by Boyle as inconsistent with the pure form of corpuscularianism Boyle himself advocated.Less
This chapter presents an example of the manner in which the purely hypothetical atom of the ancients was introduced into the experimental philosophy of the Royal Society. Lucretius had posited that the ambient air contained a mixture of toxic and salubrious particles that were taken in by the human body, explaining contagious illness and poisoning. Both Robert Boyle and John Mayow devised experiments with the aim of ascertaining the characteristics and powers of these invisible particles. Mayow's intelligent and prescient speculations regarding the vital component in the atmosphere, the ‘aerial niter’, were however repudiated by Boyle as inconsistent with the pure form of corpuscularianism Boyle himself advocated.
Ann Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199236190
- eISBN:
- 9780191717161
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199236190.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Modern History
This chapter opens with an analysis of the intellectual climate in late 17th‐century England, beginning with politico‐religious debates, in particular the complex struggles inside and outside the ...
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This chapter opens with an analysis of the intellectual climate in late 17th‐century England, beginning with politico‐religious debates, in particular the complex struggles inside and outside the Church of England after the Glorious Revolution, and the perceived threat from Socinianism, unbelief, and ‘atheism’. It also shows how the intellectual climate was affected by the impact of Cartesian philosophy as well as the ideas of Hobbes, the revival of Epicureanism, particularly the ideas of Gassendi, and the spread of Spinozism. The English mortalist tradition is presented in this context, which helps to show how Locke's hypothesis of ‘thinking matter’ fits into the picture in a way which is not always sufficiently realized. An understanding of these complex currents of thought allows us to re‐think the significance of the Boyle Lectures and the aims of their authors.Less
This chapter opens with an analysis of the intellectual climate in late 17th‐century England, beginning with politico‐religious debates, in particular the complex struggles inside and outside the Church of England after the Glorious Revolution, and the perceived threat from Socinianism, unbelief, and ‘atheism’. It also shows how the intellectual climate was affected by the impact of Cartesian philosophy as well as the ideas of Hobbes, the revival of Epicureanism, particularly the ideas of Gassendi, and the spread of Spinozism. The English mortalist tradition is presented in this context, which helps to show how Locke's hypothesis of ‘thinking matter’ fits into the picture in a way which is not always sufficiently realized. An understanding of these complex currents of thought allows us to re‐think the significance of the Boyle Lectures and the aims of their authors.
Louise A. Breen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195138009
- eISBN:
- 9780199834006
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138007.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Explores how King Philip's War and debates over the halfway covenant contributed to the emergence of a racialized “tribalism” during the 1670s. This was a time when ordinary colonists manifested fear ...
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Explores how King Philip's War and debates over the halfway covenant contributed to the emergence of a racialized “tribalism” during the 1670s. This was a time when ordinary colonists manifested fear not only of enemy Indians but also of Christian Indian allies and military leaders. These leaders’ vested interest in frontier exchange was thought to have blinded them to the dangers of Indians, who only pretended to be Christian converts and allies. The chapter pays particular attention to the career of Daniel Gookin, who aided the efforts of the missionary, John Eliot. Additionally, Gookin's commitment to the integration of Indian peoples into colonial life was shaped by his family's experiences as colonizers of Ireland with ties to the family of Robert Boyle, president of the Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.Less
Explores how King Philip's War and debates over the halfway covenant contributed to the emergence of a racialized “tribalism” during the 1670s. This was a time when ordinary colonists manifested fear not only of enemy Indians but also of Christian Indian allies and military leaders. These leaders’ vested interest in frontier exchange was thought to have blinded them to the dangers of Indians, who only pretended to be Christian converts and allies. The chapter pays particular attention to the career of Daniel Gookin, who aided the efforts of the missionary, John Eliot. Additionally, Gookin's commitment to the integration of Indian peoples into colonial life was shaped by his family's experiences as colonizers of Ireland with ties to the family of Robert Boyle, president of the Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.
BEN LEVITAS
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199253432
- eISBN:
- 9780191719196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253432.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter examines the fracture of the theatre movement and cultural nationalist alliances in the post-Boer period. Yeats, with financial backing from Annie Horniman, was able to set up the INTS ...
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This chapter examines the fracture of the theatre movement and cultural nationalist alliances in the post-Boer period. Yeats, with financial backing from Annie Horniman, was able to set up the INTS in the Abbey Theatre and establish the organisation as a professional company. Cultural nationalists, particularly Griffith and Moran, attacked the theatre for rejecting propagandist imperatives; however, their attack on Synge reveals a conservative nationalist agenda also evident in their anti-Semitic support for the Limerick Pogrom of 1903. Beyond the apparent oppositions, however, a ‘union of Sceptics’, often in left-literati combinations, operated to suggest alternatives. Journals such as Dana, the Nationist, and the National Democrat; theatre groups such as the Theatre of Ireland and the Ulster Literary Theatre; and the range of material available at the Abbey from Colum, Boyle and Lady Gregory demonstrate a broad spectrum of opinion.Less
This chapter examines the fracture of the theatre movement and cultural nationalist alliances in the post-Boer period. Yeats, with financial backing from Annie Horniman, was able to set up the INTS in the Abbey Theatre and establish the organisation as a professional company. Cultural nationalists, particularly Griffith and Moran, attacked the theatre for rejecting propagandist imperatives; however, their attack on Synge reveals a conservative nationalist agenda also evident in their anti-Semitic support for the Limerick Pogrom of 1903. Beyond the apparent oppositions, however, a ‘union of Sceptics’, often in left-literati combinations, operated to suggest alternatives. Journals such as Dana, the Nationist, and the National Democrat; theatre groups such as the Theatre of Ireland and the Ulster Literary Theatre; and the range of material available at the Abbey from Colum, Boyle and Lady Gregory demonstrate a broad spectrum of opinion.
Ben Brice
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199290253
- eISBN:
- 9780191710483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290253.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter begins with an examination of John Calvin's views on the devastating ‘noetic’ effects of the Fall. According to Calvin, one of the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience was that ...
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This chapter begins with an examination of John Calvin's views on the devastating ‘noetic’ effects of the Fall. According to Calvin, one of the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience was that our reasoning powers had been vitiated and almost entirely destroyed by inherited original sin. Calvin argued that while God still revealed himself in an accommodated form in the ‘book’ or ‘theatre’ of nature, mankind was now incapable of discerning this divine revelation. Only the Elect, guided by the ‘spectacles’ of a Biblical faith, could discern the legible marks of God's presence in nature. These arguments concerning the ‘noetic’ effects of the Fall are shown to have a powerful afterlife in the philosophical writings of Boyle and Locke. The epistemological ‘piety’ or ‘modesty’ present within the methodological reflections of both thinkers is explored, and this attitude of piety is connected to Protestant critiques of natural reason and theological voluntarism.Less
This chapter begins with an examination of John Calvin's views on the devastating ‘noetic’ effects of the Fall. According to Calvin, one of the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience was that our reasoning powers had been vitiated and almost entirely destroyed by inherited original sin. Calvin argued that while God still revealed himself in an accommodated form in the ‘book’ or ‘theatre’ of nature, mankind was now incapable of discerning this divine revelation. Only the Elect, guided by the ‘spectacles’ of a Biblical faith, could discern the legible marks of God's presence in nature. These arguments concerning the ‘noetic’ effects of the Fall are shown to have a powerful afterlife in the philosophical writings of Boyle and Locke. The epistemological ‘piety’ or ‘modesty’ present within the methodological reflections of both thinkers is explored, and this attitude of piety is connected to Protestant critiques of natural reason and theological voluntarism.
Paul Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195110333
- eISBN:
- 9780199872084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195110333.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Hume's early critics strongly associated the skepticism of the Treatise with “atheistic” or anti‐Christian intentions. Moreover, they took Clarke's philosophy to be a particularly obvious and ...
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Hume's early critics strongly associated the skepticism of the Treatise with “atheistic” or anti‐Christian intentions. Moreover, they took Clarke's philosophy to be a particularly obvious and prominent target of Hume's battery of skeptical arguments, and present Hume as a freethinking, “minute philosopher” in the school of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Collins (i.e. Clarke's “atheistic” opponents). Scholars have generally dismissed these reactions and responses to the Treatise as coming from bigoted and narrow‐minded critics who lacked either the ability or the will to understand Hume's philosophy. The truth is, however, that these early reactions to the Treatise are entirely consistent with a proper understanding of the wider debate between the “religious philosophers” and “speculative atheists,” which was the dominant philosophical debate throughout the century that preceded the publication of the Treatise. This chapter documents and describes the major figures and contours of this crucial debate.Less
Hume's early critics strongly associated the skepticism of the Treatise with “atheistic” or anti‐Christian intentions. Moreover, they took Clarke's philosophy to be a particularly obvious and prominent target of Hume's battery of skeptical arguments, and present Hume as a freethinking, “minute philosopher” in the school of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Collins (i.e. Clarke's “atheistic” opponents). Scholars have generally dismissed these reactions and responses to the Treatise as coming from bigoted and narrow‐minded critics who lacked either the ability or the will to understand Hume's philosophy. The truth is, however, that these early reactions to the Treatise are entirely consistent with a proper understanding of the wider debate between the “religious philosophers” and “speculative atheists,” which was the dominant philosophical debate throughout the century that preceded the publication of the Treatise. This chapter documents and describes the major figures and contours of this crucial debate.
Paul Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195110333
- eISBN:
- 9780199872084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195110333.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The early responses to the Treatise show that the issue of “atheism” was neither peripheral nor irrelevant to the way that Hume's own contemporaries understood his aims and objectives. Most ...
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The early responses to the Treatise show that the issue of “atheism” was neither peripheral nor irrelevant to the way that Hume's own contemporaries understood his aims and objectives. Most contemporary Hume scholars maintain, however, that this label, not only misrepresents Hume's intentions in the Treatise but that it also misrepresents his position on the subject of religion as presented in his later writings (which are understood to be more “directly” or “explicitly” concerned with religion). The immediate aim of this chapter is to develop a clearer understanding of the way that Hume and his contemporaries interpreted “atheism” and the specific doctrines that were associated with it. Once this standard is (back) in place, we will be in a position to determine the extent to which the charge of “atheism” fits the actual content of the Treatise.Less
The early responses to the Treatise show that the issue of “atheism” was neither peripheral nor irrelevant to the way that Hume's own contemporaries understood his aims and objectives. Most contemporary Hume scholars maintain, however, that this label, not only misrepresents Hume's intentions in the Treatise but that it also misrepresents his position on the subject of religion as presented in his later writings (which are understood to be more “directly” or “explicitly” concerned with religion). The immediate aim of this chapter is to develop a clearer understanding of the way that Hume and his contemporaries interpreted “atheism” and the specific doctrines that were associated with it. Once this standard is (back) in place, we will be in a position to determine the extent to which the charge of “atheism” fits the actual content of the Treatise.
Jonathan I. Israel
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206088
- eISBN:
- 9780191676970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206088.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Modern History
The most important and exceptional element in Spinoza's scientific thought is simply that natural philosophy, or science, is of universal applicability and that there is no reserved area beyond it. ...
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The most important and exceptional element in Spinoza's scientific thought is simply that natural philosophy, or science, is of universal applicability and that there is no reserved area beyond it. This implied a stark contrast between Spinoza's scientific rationality and that of every other leading philosopher and scientist of the age, not least Descartes. Various contemporaries attested to Spinoza's skill in preparing lenses and building microscopes and telescopes. Among those most aware of Spinoza's work with microscopes was the preeminent scientist of the Dutch Golden Age, Christian Huygens. Below the surface, the barely suppressed rivalry between Huygens and Spinoza extended far beyond lenses and microscopes. For both men, the central issue in science at the time was to revise and refine Descartes' laws of motion and mechanics. Another central strand of Spinoza's scientific thought is his critique of Boyle. Spinoza relegated observation and experiment to the secondary role of confirming or contradicting hypotheses, and it was on this ground that he was drawn into criticizing Boyle and the empiricism of the Royal Society.Less
The most important and exceptional element in Spinoza's scientific thought is simply that natural philosophy, or science, is of universal applicability and that there is no reserved area beyond it. This implied a stark contrast between Spinoza's scientific rationality and that of every other leading philosopher and scientist of the age, not least Descartes. Various contemporaries attested to Spinoza's skill in preparing lenses and building microscopes and telescopes. Among those most aware of Spinoza's work with microscopes was the preeminent scientist of the Dutch Golden Age, Christian Huygens. Below the surface, the barely suppressed rivalry between Huygens and Spinoza extended far beyond lenses and microscopes. For both men, the central issue in science at the time was to revise and refine Descartes' laws of motion and mechanics. Another central strand of Spinoza's scientific thought is his critique of Boyle. Spinoza relegated observation and experiment to the secondary role of confirming or contradicting hypotheses, and it was on this ground that he was drawn into criticizing Boyle and the empiricism of the Royal Society.
Douglas John Casson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144740
- eISBN:
- 9781400836888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144740.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter demonstrates how Locke's gradual move away from his early political positions parallels his encounter with a new notion of reasonableness based on probable judgment. This shift took ...
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This chapter demonstrates how Locke's gradual move away from his early political positions parallels his encounter with a new notion of reasonableness based on probable judgment. This shift took place as Locke became involved with a group of researchers surrounding Robert Boyle who were adopting a “new probability” linked to the evidential testimony of natural signs or nondemonstrable facts. Although their vocabulary grew from medieval notions of probability, these experimentalists unwittingly secularized practical rationality in a way that transformed scientific, religious, and political justification. This shift hinged on an assumption that evidence presented to the senses can be seen as a natural deliverance emanating from an ultimately inaccessible, yet divinely ordained structure of order.Less
This chapter demonstrates how Locke's gradual move away from his early political positions parallels his encounter with a new notion of reasonableness based on probable judgment. This shift took place as Locke became involved with a group of researchers surrounding Robert Boyle who were adopting a “new probability” linked to the evidential testimony of natural signs or nondemonstrable facts. Although their vocabulary grew from medieval notions of probability, these experimentalists unwittingly secularized practical rationality in a way that transformed scientific, religious, and political justification. This shift hinged on an assumption that evidence presented to the senses can be seen as a natural deliverance emanating from an ultimately inaccessible, yet divinely ordained structure of order.
Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197502501
- eISBN:
- 9780197502532
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197502501.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This book examines the way in which Robert Boyle seeks to accommodate his complex chemical philosophy within the framework of a mechanistic theory of matter. More specifically, the book proposes that ...
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This book examines the way in which Robert Boyle seeks to accommodate his complex chemical philosophy within the framework of a mechanistic theory of matter. More specifically, the book proposes that Boyle regards chemical qualities as properties that emerge from the mechanistic structure of chymical atoms. Within Boyle’s chemical ontology, chymical atoms are structured concretions of particles that Boyle regards as chemically elementary entities, that is, as chemical wholes that resist experimental analysis. Although this interpretation of Boyle’s chemical philosophy has already been suggested by other Boyle scholars, the present book provides a sustained philosophical argument to demonstrate that, for Boyle, chemical properties are dispositional, relational, emergent, and supervenient properties. This argument is strengthened by a detailed mereological analysis of Boylean chymical atoms that establishes the kind of theory of wholes and parts that is most consistent with his emergentist conception of chemical properties. The emergentist position that is being attributed to Boyle supports his view that chemical reactions resist direct explanation in terms of the mechanistic properties of fundamental particles, as well as his position regarding the scientific autonomy of chemistry from mechanics and physics.Less
This book examines the way in which Robert Boyle seeks to accommodate his complex chemical philosophy within the framework of a mechanistic theory of matter. More specifically, the book proposes that Boyle regards chemical qualities as properties that emerge from the mechanistic structure of chymical atoms. Within Boyle’s chemical ontology, chymical atoms are structured concretions of particles that Boyle regards as chemically elementary entities, that is, as chemical wholes that resist experimental analysis. Although this interpretation of Boyle’s chemical philosophy has already been suggested by other Boyle scholars, the present book provides a sustained philosophical argument to demonstrate that, for Boyle, chemical properties are dispositional, relational, emergent, and supervenient properties. This argument is strengthened by a detailed mereological analysis of Boylean chymical atoms that establishes the kind of theory of wholes and parts that is most consistent with his emergentist conception of chemical properties. The emergentist position that is being attributed to Boyle supports his view that chemical reactions resist direct explanation in terms of the mechanistic properties of fundamental particles, as well as his position regarding the scientific autonomy of chemistry from mechanics and physics.
Walter Ott
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199570430
- eISBN:
- 9780191722394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570430.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
In England, ontological mechanism comes under fire. Figures such as Ralph Cudworth and Henry More argue that this ontology is too impoverished to explain such phenomena as cohesion, gravity, the ...
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In England, ontological mechanism comes under fire. Figures such as Ralph Cudworth and Henry More argue that this ontology is too impoverished to explain such phenomena as cohesion, gravity, the transference of motion, and witchcraft. It is by responding to these problems and to the challenges posed by the top‐down picture of the Cartesians that Locke and Boyle attempt to defend the bottom‐up view.Less
In England, ontological mechanism comes under fire. Figures such as Ralph Cudworth and Henry More argue that this ontology is too impoverished to explain such phenomena as cohesion, gravity, the transference of motion, and witchcraft. It is by responding to these problems and to the challenges posed by the top‐down picture of the Cartesians that Locke and Boyle attempt to defend the bottom‐up view.
Walter Ott
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199570430
- eISBN:
- 9780191722394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570430.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
The Cartesian rejection of powers was built on a rejection of the view of relations that underpinned them. One clear way, then, to “sanitize” powers — to make them acceptable within a mechanist ...
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The Cartesian rejection of powers was built on a rejection of the view of relations that underpinned them. One clear way, then, to “sanitize” powers — to make them acceptable within a mechanist ontology — would be to begin by treating relations and then move on to their subset, powers. This is what Locke and Boyle, with varying degrees of success, attempt. This chapter argues that Locke and Boyle use some familiar scholastic arguments to show that relations supervene on their relata and hence do not constitute an extra element in one's ontology. The case is more complicated, however, when it comes to Boyle.Less
The Cartesian rejection of powers was built on a rejection of the view of relations that underpinned them. One clear way, then, to “sanitize” powers — to make them acceptable within a mechanist ontology — would be to begin by treating relations and then move on to their subset, powers. This is what Locke and Boyle, with varying degrees of success, attempt. This chapter argues that Locke and Boyle use some familiar scholastic arguments to show that relations supervene on their relata and hence do not constitute an extra element in one's ontology. The case is more complicated, however, when it comes to Boyle.
Walter Ott
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199570430
- eISBN:
- 9780191722394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570430.003.0018
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
Although Boyle's famous “lock and key” analogy seems to indicate that he takes powers to be nothing more than the intrinsic features of the bodies involved in their exercise, he also thinks that the ...
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Although Boyle's famous “lock and key” analogy seems to indicate that he takes powers to be nothing more than the intrinsic features of the bodies involved in their exercise, he also thinks that the distribution and conservation of motion is dependent on God's will. If this last point holds, however, then it is not clear how the key's power to open the lock could be reduced to the intrinsic features of the key and the lock. For if God were to vary the motion of these bodies, even keeping their intrinsic features the same, the key would gain and lose this power. This chapter suggests a solution to the paradox by sharpening up Boyle's seemingly reductive view of relations.Less
Although Boyle's famous “lock and key” analogy seems to indicate that he takes powers to be nothing more than the intrinsic features of the bodies involved in their exercise, he also thinks that the distribution and conservation of motion is dependent on God's will. If this last point holds, however, then it is not clear how the key's power to open the lock could be reduced to the intrinsic features of the key and the lock. For if God were to vary the motion of these bodies, even keeping their intrinsic features the same, the key would gain and lose this power. This chapter suggests a solution to the paradox by sharpening up Boyle's seemingly reductive view of relations.
