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Academy Resources Glossary of Philosophical Terms Timeline of Philosophy A Timeline of American Philosophy Diagram: Development of Philosophic Thought Diagram: Divisions of Philosophy The Philosophy Resource Center The Religion Resource Center Books about Philosophy in The Radical Academy Bookstore Books about Religion in The Radical Academy Bookstore Click Here for New & Used College Textbooks at Discount Prices Click Here for College Education Information & Study Resources Shop Amazon Stores in the Radical Academy Bookstore Magazine Outlet Music Store Classical Music Store Video Store DVD Store Computer Store Camera & Photo Store Computer/Video Games Software Store Musical Instruments Outlet Store Cellular Phones Toys & Games Tools & Hardware Automotive Store Outdoor Living Consumer Electronics Home & Garden Kitchen & Housewares Baby Superstore Apparel & Accessories Gourmet Food Grocery Store Sporting Goods Jewelry & Watches Health & Personal Care Beauty Store		Illuminism   The Philosophy of English Illuminism   Empiricism had originated and flourished in England, and it was on the basis of the findings of Empiricism that the Illuminati established their system of mechanism. The empiricism of Locke, Hobbes and Hume restricted philosophy to the narrow confines of knowledge of the phenomena that succeed one another and are bound together by association, without finality. These phenomena do not happen in view of some purposeful end, but are bound together by mechanical association. Illuminism extended this principle to all reality, including man: All is mechanical. In a system founded on mechanism there is no place for a transcendent God, for a morality, for a religion; everything is the result of blond causality. The English philosophers, however, did not wish to conclude with Hobbes' materialistic atheism. Thus by the middle of the seventeenth century a movement of reaction against materialistic atheism made its appearance. In the name of reason, these philosophers on the one hand accepted the mechanism of nature, which made possible the progress of sciences; on the other hand, they returned to the past -- in particular to the Neo-Platonic vision of the universe in order to uphold the principle of causality and finality (God) in regard to the series of natural phenomena -- and thus they preserved morality and religion. This reactionary movement appeared under different aspects and in many centers of learning, particularly at Cambridge University. The Cambridge School The movement linked with Cambridge University is the most representative and important. Going back to the Neo-Platonism of the Renaissance, the philosophers at Cambridge affirmed the presence of a cosmic soul in the universe. This soul acts according to laws which are the expression of God's eternal and immutable nature, and it shows itself, with full consciousness, in human nature by means of such innate ideas as mathematical, logical, metaphysical, ethical and religious axioms. The divinity which is in the world is emphasized; and individual human reason, which partakes of eternal truth, is held to be the exclusive source of every theoretical and practical certitude. Thus, in opposition to materialistic atheism, there again rose a tendency to a "natural religion," i.e., a religion without mysteries, without revelation, without anything supernatural. This natural religion holds that divinity exists in nature and that when human reason is not obscured by prejudice it is able to grasp this divinity. (Deism.) This is the primitive religion that positive religions corrupted with the passage of time. Early Christianity alone approached this natural religion, but even Christianity was very soon corrupted by prejudice and superstition. The most important exponents of this form of Deism were: (a) John Toland (1670-1722), author of Christianity not Mysterious; (b) Anthony Collins (1676-1729), who wrote Discourse of Freethinking; (c) Matthew Tindal (1657-1733), author of Christianity as Old as the Creation; (d) Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751), who was a Skeptic but a Deist; opposing every kind of religion, he admitted that religion is "necessary, however, for ignorant people." Corresponding to this deistic support of a natural religion was another movement which tended to establish a "natural morality," that is, a morality which is free not only of theology but of egoism as well. British moralism manifests itself in the works of various authors, each with his own particular consideration of the problem: (a) Samuel Clarke (1675-1729), philosopher and apologist, a great admirer of Newton, defended, with the power of reason alone, God's transcendence, the existence of a final cause, the immortality of the soul, freedom, morality and responsibility; (b) Anthony Ashley Cooper Shaftesbury (1671-1713), author of Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, maintained that the foundation of morality is not reason but innate sentiment. An admirer of the Renaissance, he believed that the divinity exists in the universe and manifests itself in men by this innate sentiment, through which man feels himself to be in harmony with others. Society depends on sympathy and not on egoism, as Hobbes had believed. By making other happy, man finds his own happiness; (c) Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who held that the mechanical order of nature is a proof of the existence of God -- for "if the world is a big machine, God is its artificer." "Common Sense" and the Scottish School Akin to the trend of Shaftesbury in the field of ethics is that advanced in the theoretical field by the so-called Scottish School, whose most important representative was Thomas Reid (1710-1796). Opposing Empiricism, Reid denied that the primary degree of knowledge is the contents of the senses, for these are atomically isolated from one another. He likewise denied that the superior manifestations of our psychic life are the result of associations. According to Reid, all knowledge implies "an indivisible connection of ideas." Hence he affirmed the existence of primitive judgments, which are immediately grasped by so-called "common sense." Such judgments constitute the terminal point of every analysis of thought. They do not need demonstration; they are self-evident truths. Moreover, they are the certain touchstone for the justification and correction of every affirmation we make regarding the world round about us.   Return to The Philosophy of Illuminism Go to The Philosophy of French Illuminism Go to German and Italian Illuminism The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment, by Alexander Broadie 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment, by Peter Harrison Academy Showcase Specials Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Introduction & Directory
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