Description
Book SynopsisSarah Hutton presents a rich historical study of one of the most fertile periods in modern philosophy. It was in the seventeenth century that Britain''s first philosophers of international stature and lasting influence emerged. Its most famous names, Hobbes and Locke, rank alongside the greatest names in the European philosophical canon. Bacon too belongs with this constellation of great thinkers, although his status as a philosopher tends to be obscured by his status as father of modern science. The seventeenth century is normally regarded as the dawn of modernity following the breakdown of the Aristotelian synthesis which had dominated intellectual life since the middle ages. In this period of transformational change, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke are acknowledged to have contributed significantly to the shape of European philosophy from their own time to the present day. But these figures did not work in isolation. Sarah Hutton places them in their intellectual context, including the social,
Trade ReviewHuttons book is an impeccable work of scholarship and one that will serve as an essential point of reference for years to come. * Christopher Tilmouth, The Seventeenth Century *
the remarkable accomplishment of a novel contribution in the much explored area of early modern philosophy. * Giovanni Gellera, Journal of Scottish Philosophy *
This account of 17th-century British philosophy highlights the cultural, social, and intellectual issues embedded in philosophical discussions of the era. Hutton's impressive reconstruction of the contributions of and interactions among a large cast of individuals, minor as well as major, leaves readers with a lively sense of the broad intellectual flavor of the day . . . Recommended. * D. C. Kolb, CHOICE *
an important contribution ... a truly comprehensive narrative of seventeenth- century British philosophy . . . Hutton's book is an impeccable work of scholarship and one that will serve as an essential point of reference for years to come. * Christopher Tilmouth, Seventeenth Century *
Sarah Hutton is an excellent choice for author. She is an eminent senior scholar with an extensive publication record . . . Hutton does a wonderful job presenting a large body of diverse and complicated material accurately and concisely. She is to be commended heartily. * Benjamin Hill, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1: An Age of Transformation 2: Philosophy in the Universities 3: Cross Currents, Conduits, and Conversations 4: Aristotelianism and its Enemies 5: Bacon and Herbert of Cherbury 6: Thomas Hobbes 7: A Cambridge Enlightenment: The Cambridge Platonists and Richard Cumberland 8: From Philosophy to Science: Natural Philosophy of Boyle, Newton, and Others 9: John Locke 10: Free Thinkers, Idealists, and Women Philosophers: Philosophy from 1690 to 1710-and after Biographical Appendix Bibliography Index
