Cambridge Platonists
Encyclopedia
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in the middle of the 17th century (between 1633 and 1688).
Programme
The Cambridge Platonists were reacting to two pressures. On the one hand, the dogmatism of the PuritanPuritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
divines, with their anti-rationalis
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
t demands, were, they felt, immoral and incorrect. They also felt that the Puritan/Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
insistence upon individual revelation left God uninvolved with the majority of mankind. At the same time, they were reacting against the reductive materialist
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
writings of Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
. They felt that the latter, while properly rationalist, were denying the idealistic part of the universe. To the Cambridge Platonists, religion and reason were in harmony, and reality was known not by physical sensation alone, but by intuition of the "intelligible forms" that exist behind the material world of everyday perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
. Universal, ideal forms (à la Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
) inform matter, and the physical senses are unreliable guides to their reality.
As divines and in matters of polity, the Cambridge Platonists argued for moderation. They believed that reason is the proper judge of all disagreements, and so they advocated dialogue between the Puritans and the High Churchmen
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
. They had a mystical understanding of reason, believing that reason is not merely the sense-making facility of the mind, but, instead, "the candle of the Lord" - an echo of the divine within the human soul and an imprint of God within man. Thus, they believed that reason could lead beyond the sensory, because it is semi-divine. Reason was, for them, of God, and thus capable of nearing God. Therefore, they believed that reason could allow for judging the private revelations of Puritan theology and the proper investigation of the rituals and liturgy of the Established Church. For this reason, they were called latitudinarian
Latitudinarian
Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance...
s.
Representatives
- Anne Conway, Viscountess ConwayAnne Conway, Viscountess ConwayAnne Conway, Viscountess Conway was an English philosopher whose work, in the tradition of the Cambridge Platonists, was an influence on Leibniz....
(1631-1679) - Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
- Ralph CudworthRalph CudworthRalph Cudworth was an English philosopher, the leader of the Cambridge Platonists.-Life:Born at Aller, Somerset, he was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, gaining his MA and becoming a Fellow of Emmanuel in 1639. In 1645, he became master of Clare Hall and professor of Hebrew...
(1617–1688) - Nathaniel CulverwelNathaniel CulverwelNathaniel Culverwell , alternative spellings Nathanael or Culverwell) was an English author and theologian, born in Middlesex. He was baptized on 14 January 1619 at the church of St. Margaret Moses where his father was rector...
(1619–1651) - Joseph GlanvillJoseph GlanvillJoseph Glanvill was an English writer, philosopher, and clergyman. Not himself a scientist, he has been called "the most skillful apologist of the virtuosi", or in other words the leading propagandist for the approach of the English natural philosophers of the later 17th century.-Life:He was...
(1636-1680) - Damaris Cudworth MashamDamaris Cudworth MashamDamaris Cudworth Masham was an English philosopher. She was the daughter of Cambridge Platonist philosopher Ralph Cudworth and a friend of John Locke, an English philosopher of what later came to be termed as the empiricist school...
(1659-1708) - Henry MoreHenry MoreHenry More FRS was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school.-Biography:Henry was born at Grantham and was schooled at The King's School, Grantham and at Eton College...
(1614–1687) - John Norris (1657-1711)
- George Rust (d.1670)
- John SmithJohn Smith (Platonist)John Smith was an English philosopher, theologian, and educator.-Life:...
(1618–1652) - Peter SterryPeter SterryPeter Sterry was an English independent theologian, associated with the Cambridge Platonists prominent during the English Civil War era. He was chaplain to Parliamentarian general Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke and then Oliver Cromwell, a member of the Westminster Assembly, and a leading...
(1613–1672) - Benjamin WhichcoteBenjamin WhichcoteBenjamin Whichcote was a British Establishment and Puritan divine, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and leader of the Cambridge Platonists.-Life:...
(1609–1683) - John WorthingtonJohn WorthingtonJohn Worthington was an English academic. He was closely associated with the Cambridge Platonists. He did not in fact publish in the field of philosophy, and is now known mainly as a well-connected diarist.-Life:...
(1618-1671)
Major Works of the Cambridge Platonists
- Conway's only surviving treatise, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1692) presents an ontology of spirit in opposition to More, Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza and utilizes a concept of a monad derived from Kabbala and which anticipates Leibniz who may have plagiarized the idea from her.
- Cudworth's chief philosophical work was The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678) and the Treatise concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality, which appeared posthumously in 1731.
- Culverwel's chief work was Light of Nature (1652). Culverwel died young (probably at the age of 32). He had intended to write a multi-part work reconciling the GospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
with philosophical reason. - Henry More (1614–1687) wrote many works. As a Platonist, his important works were Manual of Ethics (1666), the Divine Dialogues (1668), and the Manual of Metaphysics (1671). While all of More's works enjoyed popularity, the Divine Dialogues were perhaps most influential.
- John Smith, a student of Benjamin Whichcote, is best remembered today for the elegance of his style and the depth of his learning in the posthumously published Select Discourses (1660).
- Peter Sterry is remembered for his A Discourse of the Freedom of the Will (1675) among other works.
- Benjamin Whichcote (1609–1683) was one of the leaders of the movement, but he was also an active pastor and academic who did not publish in his lifetime. His sermons were notable and caused controversies, and Whichcote wrote a great deal without publishing. In 1685, Some Select Notions of B. Whichcote was published due to demand. After that was Select Sermons (1689) (with a preface by Shaftesbury) and Several Discourses (1701). Finally, a collection of his sayings appeared as Moral and Religious Aphorisms in 1703.
Further reading
- C. A. PatridesC. A. PatridesConstantinos Apostolos Patrides was a Greek–American academic and writer, and “one of the greatest scholars of Renaissance literature of his generation”. His books list the name C. A. Patrides; his Christian name “Constantinos” was shortened to the familiar “Dinos” and “Dean” by friends.Born...
. The Cambridge Platonists (Cambridge, 1980) ISBN 052129942X
External links
- Cambridge Platonismhttp://cambridgeplatonism.wordpress.com/ a new site dedicated to providing resources for the study of the philosophical and theological movement.