An Anthology of the Cambridge Platonists: Sources and Commentary

ISBN-13: 9781032023830 / Angielski

Douglas Hedley; Christian Hengstermann

Opis

Despite their neglect in many histories of ideas in the West, the Cambridge Platonists constitute the most significant and influential group of thinkers in the Platonic tradition between the Florentine Renaissance and the Romantic Age. This anthology offers readers a unique, thematically structured compendium of their key texts, along with an extensive introduction and a detailed account of their legacy. The volume draws upon a resurgence of interest in thinkers such as Benjamin Whichcote, 1609-1683; Ralph Cudworth, 1618-1688; Henry More, 1614-1687; John Smith, 1618-1652, and Anne Conway 1631-1679, and includes hitherto neglected extracts and some works of less familiar authors within the group, like George Rust 1627?-1670; Joseph Glanville, 1636-1680 and John Norris 1657-1712. It also highlights the Cambridge Platonists’ important role in the history of philosophy and theology, influencing luminaries such as Shaftesbury, Berkeley, Leibniz, Joseph de Maistre, S.T. Coleridge, and W.R. Emerson.　The Cambridge Platonist Anthology　is an indispensable guide to the serious study of a pivotal group of Western metaphysicians, and is of great value for both students and scholars of philosophy, literature, history, and theology.

Key Features

• The only systematic anthology to the Cambridge Platonists available, facilitating quick comprehension of key themes and ideas
• Uses new translations of the Latin works, vastly improving upon faulty and misleading earlier translations
• Offers a wide range of new perspective on the Cambridge Platonists, showing the extent of their influence in early modern philosophy and beyond.

Spis treści

1. Cambridge Platonism: A Philosophical Introduction  2. The Cambridge Platonists: A Very Brief History  3. From the Latitude Men to the Cambridge Enlightenment: Anthologizing the Cambridge Platonists  4. From Campagnac to Taliaferro and Teply: Cambridge Platonist Anthologies Old and New  5. Conversion and Original Insight  6. Political Platonism and Early Sermons on Rational Theology  6*. The New Sect of Latitude Men: Religious Toleration and Moderation in Revolutionary and Restoration England 7. True Theism and the Philosophy of Religion  8. The Critique of John Calvin: Divine Fate Immoral  9. The Critique of Thomas Hobbes: Mechanistic Fate  10. The Critique of René Descartes: Infinity and Nullibism  11. The Critique of Jacob Böhme: The Critiques of Enthusiasm and Alchemistic Pantheism  12. The Critique of Baruch de Spinoza: Atheism and Hylozoism  13. The Character of Metaphysics  14. The Existence and Nature of God  15. Space  16. Nature  17. Body and Spirit  18. Intuitive Vision and the First Principle of Divine Goodness  19. Libertarian Freedom  20. Theoretical Reason and Knowledge  21. Practical Reason and Virtue  22. The Sources of Political Power  23. Faith and Reason  24. The Fall of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body  25. Soul-Making Theodicy  26. Christ’s Sacrifice  27. The Conflagration and Restitution of All Things  28. The Reception History of the Cambridge Platonists