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Philosophy in eighteenth-century Britain was diverse, vibrant, and sophisticated. This was the age of Hume and Berkeley and Reid, of Hutcheson and Kames and Smith, of Ferguson and Burke and Wollstonecraft. Important and influential works were published in every area of philosophy, from the theory of vision to theories of political resistance, from the philosophy of language to accounts of ways of governing the passions. The philosophers of eighteenth-century Britain were enormously influential, in France, in Italy, in Germany, and in America. Their ideas and arguments remain a powerful presence in philosophy three centuries later.
This Oxford Handbook is the first book ever to provide comprehensive coverage of the full range of philosophical writing in Britain in the eighteenth century. It provides accounts of the writings of all the major figures, but also puts those figures in the context provided by a host of writers less well known today. The book has five principal sections: 'Logic and Metaphysics', 'The Passions', 'Morals', 'Criticism', and 'Politics'. Each section comprises four chapters, providing detailed coverage of all of the important aspects of its subject matter. There is also an introductory section, with chapters on the general character of philosophizing in eighteenth-century Britain, and a concluding section on the important question of the relation at this time between philosophy and religion.
The authors of the chapters are experts in their fields. They include philosophers, historians, political theorists, and literary critics, and they teach in colleges and universities in Britain, in Europe, and in North America.
Introduction, James A. Harris
PART 1: THE LANGUAGES OF PHILOSOPHY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN
1: Locke and his legacy, TIMOTHY STANTON
2: Newton and Newtonianism in eighteenth-century British thought, ERIC SCHLIESSER
3: The idea of a science of human nature, JACQUELINE TAYLOR
4: Rhetoric and eloquence: the language of persuasion, PADDY BULLARD
PART 2: LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS
5: Perception and the Language of Nature, REBECCA COPENHAVER
6: Language and thought, LAURENT JAFFRO
7: The understanding, JOHN P. WRIGHT
8: Mind and matter, AARON GARRETT
PART 3: THE PASSIONS
9: Passions, affections, sentiments: taxonomy and terminology, AMY SCHMITTER
10: Reason and the passions, TERENCE CUNEO
11: Liberty and necessity, SEAN GREENBERG
12: The government of the passions, JAMES A. HARRIS
PART 4: MORALS
13: Self-interest and sociability, CHRISTIAN MAURER
14: Moral judgment, P. J. E. KAIL
15: The nature of virtue, Dario Perinetti
16: Practical ethics, COLIN HEYDT
PART 5: CRITICISM
17: The pleasures of the imagination and the objects of taste, PAUL GUYER
18: The faculty of taste, TIMOTHY M. COSTELLOE
19: The pleasures of tragedy, EVA DADLEZ
20: Genius and the creative imagination, PETER KIVY
PART 6: POLITICS
21: The origin of civil government, DARIO CASTIGLIONE
22: Forms of government, CRAIG SMITH
23: Reform and revolution, NEIL McARTHUR
24: Luxury, commerce, and the rise of political economy, RICHARD WHATMORE
PART 7: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
25: Causation, cosmology, and the limits of philosophy: the early eighteenth-century British debate, PAUL RUSSELL
26: Philosophy, revealed religion, and 'The Enlightenment', ALEXANDER BROADIE
27: Religion and morality, THOMAS AHNERT
Description
Philosophy in eighteenth-century Britain was diverse, vibrant, and sophisticated. This was the age of Hume and Berkeley and Reid, of Hutcheson and Kames and Smith, of Ferguson and Burke and Wollstonecraft. Important and influential works were published in every area of philosophy, from the theory of vision to theories of political resistance, from the philosophy of language to accounts of ways of governing the passions. The philosophers of eighteenth-century Britain were enormously influential, in France, in Italy, in Germany, and in America. Their ideas and arguments remain a powerful presence in philosophy three centuries later.
This Oxford Handbook is the first book ever to provide comprehensive coverage of the full range of philosophical writing in Britain in the eighteenth century. It provides accounts of the writings of all the major figures, but also puts those figures in the context provided by a host of writers less well known today. The book has five principal sections: 'Logic and Metaphysics', 'The Passions', 'Morals', 'Criticism', and 'Politics'. Each section comprises four chapters, providing detailed coverage of all of the important aspects of its subject matter. There is also an introductory section, with chapters on the general character of philosophizing in eighteenth-century Britain, and a concluding section on the important question of the relation at this time between philosophy and religion.
The authors of the chapters are experts in their fields. They include philosophers, historians, political theorists, and literary critics, and they teach in colleges and universities in Britain, in Europe, and in North America.
