"The Sacred Law of Fashion": Masham on Religious (Non-)Conformity
The 'occasion' for Damaris Cudworth Masham's 1705 Occasional Thoughts was, she tell us, a discussion among several women about "ladies' conduct books" and, in particular, Francois Aubignac's Les Conseils d'Ariste a Celimene, sur les Moyens de Conserver sa Reputation (Occasional Thoughts, p. 9).* These conduct books were intended to teach young ladies how to behave properly in the society circles in which they would move. This particular book was likely chosen because its very title illustrates the point Masham wants to make about this genre. The book purports to be advice from a man to a young woman on how...
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Topic(s):
Anglican Communion
,
Bible
,
Damaris Cudworth Masham
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Deism and Freethinking
,
Divine Revelation
,
Ethics
,
Historical Thinkers
,
Philosophy
,
Philosophy of Religion
,
Protestantism
,
The Church
,
Theology
,
Virtue Ethics
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Deism, Anthropomorphism, and Religion
I'm just beginning to think about a reference article on deism that I'm writing for the Ian Ramsey Centre's Special Divine Action Project and it has me thinking about a rather curious phenomenon in early modern philosophy and religion: the complex interplay between deism and theological anthropomorphism. Presently, the term 'deism' is associated with the 'absent watchmaker' picture of God: a highly anthropomorphic conception of a divine engineer whose prime concern is the elegant mechanical design of the universe rather than moral qualities. This is a conception shaped by 18th century Anglophone deists. However, in his large and extremely carefully...
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Topic(s):
Anthony Collins
,
Baruch Spinoza
,
Contemporary Thinkers
,
Deism
,
Deism and Freethinking
,
Divine Attributes
,
Divine Revelation
,
George Berkeley
,
Historical Thinkers
,
Historiography of Philosophy
,
Jonathan Israel
,
Philosophical Theology
,
Philosophy
,
Philosophy of Religion
,
The Church
,
Theology
,
William King
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"Matter, God, and Nonsense: Berkeley's Polemic Against the Freethinkers in the Three Dialogues"
I have posted a new draft to my
writings page,
"Matter, God, and Nonsense: Berkeley's Polemic Against the Freethinkers in the Three Dialogues". The final version of the paper is expected to appear in
Berkeley's Three Dialogues: New Essays, ed. Stefan Storrie (Oxford University Press). In the meantime, comments are welcome.
Continue reading ""Matter, God, and Nonsense: Berkeley's Polemic Against the Freethinkers in the Three Dialogues""
Topic(s):
Deism and Freethinking
,
Existence of God
,
George Berkeley
,
Historical Thinkers
,
Idealism/Phenomenalism
,
Metaphysics
,
Ontology
,
Philosophical Theology
,
Philosophy
,
Philosophy of Language
,
Philosophy of Religion
,
Religious Language
,
Theology
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Kenny at
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