Thomas White (1593–1676)

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ◽

10.4324/9780415249126-da074-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Beverley Southgate

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Turbulent Times ◽

John Evelyn

Thomas White’s reputation has suffered unmerited decline since he was described by John Evelyn in 1651 as ‘a learned priest and famous philosopher’. His works embrace theology, metaphysics, natural philosophy and political theory. The leader of a minority faction of English Catholics, known after his alias as ‘Blackloists’, White’s overall intellectual position is determinedly antisceptical, characterized by a certainty-seeking synthesis of old and new. The traditional Aristotelianism of his own education is blended with aspects of the ‘new philosophy’ which he encountered in the 1640s; and in this respect White stands as an important representative of the intellectually turbulent times in which he lived.

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Shi'i Doctrine, Mu'tazili Theology

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474404402.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Hussein Ali Abdulsater

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Eleventh Century ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Religious Discourse ◽

Literary Studies ◽

Irreversible Change ◽

Human Judgment ◽

Human Ethics ◽

Dynamic Context ◽

Sectarian Identity

According to some Muslim theologians, God is not free to act; He is bound by human ethics. To be just, He must create an individual of perfect intellect and infallible morality. People are obligated to submit to this person; otherwise eternal damnation awaits them. While these claims may be interpreted as an affront to God’s power, an insult to human judgment and a justification for despotism, Shiʿi Muslims in the eleventh century eagerly adopted them in their attempts to forge a ‘rational’ religious discourse. They utilized everything from literary studies and political theory to natural philosophy and metaphysical speculation in support of this project. This book presents the contribution of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍān (d. 1044), the thinker most responsible for this irreversible change, which remains central to Imami Shiʿi sectarian identity and conception of history. His debates with Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. 1024), al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 1022) and al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī (d. 1067) are the best expression of his intellectual project. The book analyses this project and establishes the dynamic context which prompted him to pour the old wine of Shiʿi doctrine into the new wineskin of systematic Muʿtazili theology.

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The Logical and the Real in Political Theory: Plato, Aristotle, and Marx

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/1951010 ◽

1954 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 1058-1066

Author(s):

Charles N. R. McCoy

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Political Philosophy ◽

Political Theory ◽

Karl Marx ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Fourth Century ◽

Doctoral Dissertation ◽

Pure Theory ◽

The Real ◽

Insight Into

An immediate and important insight into the significance of Greek political philosophy may be gained by examining an observation made upon it by Karl Marx. The fact that Marx's observation is fundamentally erroneous does not prevent it from being profoundly suggestive. Marx observed, in the course of his doctoral dissertation, On the Differences between the Natural Philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus, that the character of the philosophical world after the death of Aristotle in the Fourth Century B.C. was similar to that of the philosophical world after the death of Hegel in the Nineteenth Century. What was this similarity of which Marx speaks? We may best understand it if we know that Marx had considered that his own achievement had been to break through the “completed, total world” of Hegel's “pure theory, theology, philosophy, ethics etc.,” and to have resolved the “absolute metaphysical spirit into the real man standing on the foundation of nature.”

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780190234805.003.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Deborah Boyle

Keyword(s):

Political Theory ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Natural World ◽

Scholarly Work ◽

Philosophical Thinking ◽

The Past ◽

Medical Theory ◽

The Many ◽

The Relationship

Interest in Margaret Cavendish’s philosophical views has increased dramatically in the past two decades. While earlier readers were not kind to Cavendish, recent scholarly work has been more sympathetic, showing how her writings were informed by the work of her contemporaries and revealing ways in which Cavendish’s views were original. Her corpus contains recurring themes, including a consistent interest in questions of gender, an obsession with fame, and a focus on the need for peace and order. This book argues that focusing on peace and order illuminates multiple facets of Cavendish’s philosophical thinking: her natural philosophy, her political theory, her views on gender, her views about the relationship between humans and the natural world, and her medical theory. This introductory chapter surveys some of the many texts in which Cavendish focuses on peace, order, and what she calls “regularity” and provides a summary of the topics addressed in subsequent chapters.

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