Henry More: and the Scientific Revolution

by A. Rupert Hall , Preface by David Knight

• ISBN13: 9780521562232
• ISBN10: 0521562236
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-04-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Henry More (161487) was the greatest English metaphysical theologian and the most perplexing; he was also perhaps the most distinguished member of the group of divines known as the Cambridge Platonists. An admirer of Galileo, Descartes, and Boyle, he rejected their detailed applications of mechanical philosophy to the explanation of natural phenomena. He was an experimenter, yet also a cabbalist and one of the few writers whom Newton acknowledged as having influenced his ideas. This thorough and accessible biography is the first book-length treatment of this remarkable character. More's important contributions to science are illuminated, particularly his work on space and time which influenced Newton, and the book gives fascinating insights into his spiritual philosophy and his preoccupation with witchcraft. The depth of Professor Hall's scholarship makes the book an exceptional account of the turbulent world of the Scientific Revolution.

Table of Contents

General editor's preface

Preface

Part I. Platonic and Personal Background: 1. Introduction

2. Platonism

3. Platonism and the Scientific Revolution

4. The Cambridge Platonists

5. Henry More, man of paradox

Part II. For and Against the Scientific Revolution: 6. Henry More's philosophy

7. The spirit world

8. More and Descartes

9. More and the Royal Society

10. More and Newton: space and time

11. More and Newton: force

12. Conclusion

Appendices

Notes

Bibliography

Index.