Doubtful disputations: controversies in philosophical theology circa 1700

Abstract

This research examines how controversial culture shaped philosophical theology in England circa 1700. This period saw numerous debates at the intersection of philosophy (including natural philosophy) and theology. Works in this area reflected the diverse intellectual inheritance of the seventeenth century, with its creative and destructive potential. For many, this period represents an important stage in the emergence of modern Western thought, conceived of as, for instance, the culmination of the Scientific Revolution, or a nascent stage of the Enlightenment. These movements have been variously characterised, including as an orderly progression towards more secular views, or as driven by conflict – perhaps between the ‘deists’ and orthodox thinkers, or between conservatives, and ‘Moderate’ and ‘Radical’ Enlightenment. There has, however, been no systematic study of the specific disputes themselves, or their immediate social and cultural context.

This thesis aims to address this omission. It examines a series of ‘disputations’ in the broad domain of philosophical theology during this time, and explores how the culture of controversy shaped the ways thinkers participated in these and developed and presented their arguments. Part I, ‘Worlds made and destroy’d’, examines debates on the creation of the world, enlivened by efforts to combine sacred history with new physical theories of the Earth (prominently those of René Descartes, and Isaac Newton). Part II, ‘Between Faith and Reason’, explores polemical dialogues on the nature of knowledge and its limits, including those involving John Toland, John Locke and Edward Stillingfleet. Part III, ‘Matter and the Soul’, considers controversies on the nature of the soul, contrasting the polemical activities of the idiosyncratic Henry Layton with the more prominent correspondence between Samuel Clarke and the ‘deist’ Anthony Collins. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the ways in which debates in this area embodied and shaped broader intellectual change, seeking to present a more holistic and nuanced picture of the controversies within their immediate social and cultural context, rather than as part of a ‘secularisation narrative’.