The Cambridge Platonists in Philosophical Context

Politics, Metaphysics and Religion
1. Auflage 1997
ISBN: 978-0-7923-4530-5
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 258 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 1250 g

Reihe: International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées

The Cambridge Platonists were defenders of tolerance in the political as well as the moral sphere; they held that practical j u d g e m e n t came down in the last instance to individual conscience; and they laid the foundations of our modern conceptions of conscience and liberty. But at the same time they ma intained the existence of eternal truths, and of a Good-in-itself, identical with Truth and Being, refusing to admit that freedom of conscience i m p li e d moral relativism. They were critics of dogmatism, and of the sectarian notion of "enthusiasm" as a source of illumination, on the grounds that both were disruptive of social harmony; they pleaded the cause of reason, in the hope that it could become the foundation of all human knowledge. Yet, for all that, they ma intained that a certain sort of mystical illumination lay at the heart of all true thought, and that human reason had validity only in virtue of i t s divine origin. They debated with Des cartes and took a keen interest in his mech- ism and his dualism; they brought the atomistic theories of Democritus back into repute; and they sought to provide a detailed account of the causality link ing all phenomena.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rogers, G.A.

Vienne, J.-M.

Zarka, Y.C.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: 20./21. Jahrhundert
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie