Description
Book SynopsisNotwithstanding 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, 1609â1683; Ralph Cudworth, 1618â1688; Henry More, 1614â1687; John Smith, 1618â1652, and Anne Conway 1631â1679, and includes hitherto neglected extracts and some works of less familiar authors within the group, like George Rust 1627?â1670; Joseph Glanvill, 1636â1680, and John Norris 1657â1712. It also highlights the Cambridge Platonistsâ important role in the history of philosophy and theology, influencing luminaries such as Shaftesbury, Berkeley, Leibniz, Joseph de Maistre, S.T. Coleridge,
Table of Contents
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
