Ralph Cudworth

This article analyzes new evidence from the marginalia to Ficino’s Plotinus manuscripts and offers a novel reading of Ficino’s “De Vita” 3. It settles scholarly disagreements concerning Paul O. Kristeller’s manuscript research and Frances Yates’s Hermetic thesis about “De Vita” 3, and reconsiders accepted conclusions regarding the centrality of Hermetic magic in Ficino’s philosophy. It demonstrates the origins and sources for “De Vita” 3 in Ficino’s reading of Plotinus’s explanations of prayer, and also reveals Iamblichus’s overlooked influence on Ficino: on the performative nature of philosophy in “De Vita” 3, and even on Ficino’s acknowledgment of the pseudonymity of the Hermetica.

In the late sixteenth century a number of influential writers claimed Stoicism to be compatible with Christianity but by the mid eighteenth century, Stoicism had come to be associated with atheism. What happened during the course of the reception of Stoicism in the intervening period? While it remains unclear who was the first person to call the Stoics atheists, there is no doubt that the most philosophically sustained analysis of Stoic theology during this period is to be found in Ralph Cudworth's True Intellectual System of the Universe, published in 1678. Cudworth's aim in this work is to catalogue and then attack all existing forms of atheism and one of the four principal forms of atheism he identifies he calls ‘Stoical’. However, in Cudworth's complex taxonomy of different forms of theism and atheism, Stoicism appears twice, first as a form of atheism but also as a form of imperfect theism. The aim of this study is to examine Cudworth's claims about Stoic theology, assessing their fairness, but also placing them within the wider context of the early modern reception of Stoicism.

In his A Treatise of Freewill, Ralph Cudworth argues against Stoic determinism by drawing on what he takes to be other concepts found in Stoicism, notably the claim that some things are ‘up to us’ (ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν) and that these things are the product of our choice (προαίρεσις). These concepts are central to the late Stoic Epictetus and it appears at first glance as if Cudworth is opposing late Stoic voluntarism against early Stoic determinism. This paper argues that in fact, despite his claim to be drawing on Stoic doctrine, Cudworth uses these terms with a meaning first articulated only later, by the Peripatetic commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias.

In this paper, I aim to disentangle and explicate the phenomena pertaining to Cudworth’s concept of consciousness and aim to show that as Cudworth insists on degrees within conscious mentality in general, he ultimately draws an interesting and specific distinction between two different types of consciousness dependent on the intensity of a subject’s awareness of herself as the subject of action. A further distinction is drawn between reflection as a voluntary consideration of one’s thoughts and actions and consciousness in general. Here an important distinguishing factor, besides the voluntariness of reflection, is the different kinds of reflexive structures pertaining to reflection and consciousness.

The capability of deliberation and self-determination requires self-consciousness, understood as lucid undistorted awareness of oneself as subject. Elementary consciousness, as a subjective experience, does not provide a lucid enough experience of one’s subjecthood to qualify as a basis for such higher-level activity. As one type of consciousness features the fairly specific role of being closely involved in morally responsible agency, we are also led to ask about the characteristics of the more elementary consciousness. Reflexivity, phenomenality, and content of thought in addition to subjecthood turn out to be features embraced by Cudworth’s pioneering conception of consciousness.

And this is the most natural scale by which the intellectual mind in the contemplation of corporeal things ascends to God; from the passive prints and signatures of that one art and wisdom that appears in the universe, by taking notice from thence of the exemplary or archetypal cause, one infinite and eternal mind setting his seal upon all. Ralph Cudworth1

This paper in history of philosophy covers themes about determinism from Pomponazzi to Cudworth. It deals with Pico della Mirandola, Lipsius and the neo-Stoics, Pietro Pomponazzi's attacks on free will, the English dramatist John Webster, Marin Mersenne, Hobbes's deterministic psychology, and English NeoPlatonism.

This examination considers the influence of the seventeenth century Cambridge Platonist Cudworth upon the thought of the late eighteenth century German thinker Herder. It focuses upon Herder’s use of Cudworth’s philosophy to create a revised version of Spinoza’s metaphysics. Both Cudworth and Herder were concerned with the problem of determinism. Cudworth outlined a number of difficulties relating to this problem in the thought of Spinoza, and proposed amendments, particularly the introduction of the middle principle of plastik, which would mediate between the Ideas of transcendent reason and mechanical materialism. We find these amendments to Spinoza’s philosophy also employed in Herder’s contribution to the Pantheism Controversy, in which he too offers a revised Spinozism and introduces his own middle principle of Kraft. This demonstrates an important but under-explored English contribution to a key development in German intellectual history. The Pantheism Controversy was an epoch-making event, helping to bring an end to the German Enlightenment, and to inaugurate the Romantic movement. Herder’s version of Spinoza’s thought revived the philosopher’s fortunes, and Herder’s notion of Kraft became central to Romantic aesthetics. Finally, Herder’s use of Cudworth demonstrates the important but overlooked source of Platonic realism in German Romantic thought.

Resumen. En el presente trabajo se estudia el lugar que ocupa Ralph Cudworth en la historia de la filosofía. El objetivo es mostrar que este autor no es parte del canon de la filosofía del siglo XVII y que, sin embargo, es un representante del período moderno en las primeras historias de la filosofía. Para ello, primero se introduce al autor y luego se expone la presentación que se realiza del inglés en las obras de Jacob Brucker, Wilhelm Tennemann, Taddä Rixner y Joseph Marie Degérando, para terminar en las Lecciones sobre historia de la filosofía de Georg Hegel. En un segundo momento se exponen algunas reflexiones en torno a Cudworth, que se originan a partir de la lectura de la bibliografía actualizada sobre dicho autor. Las conclusiones muestran la importancia de estudiar este tipo de pensadores, que no forman parte del canon de la filosofía pero son parte de la conformación del mismo. Palabras clave: Ralph Cudworth, canon filosófico, historiografía filosófica, Platónicos de Cambridge. [en] The Enigma of Ralph Cudworth in the History of Philosophy Abstract. The present paper studies the place of Ralph Cudworth in the history of philosophy. The objective is to show that this author is not part of the canon of seventeenth-century philosophy and yet he is a representative of the modern period in the first histories of philosophy. For this purpose I will first introduce Cudworth and then exhibit the presentation of this author in the works of Jacob Brucker, Wilhelm Tennemann, Taddä Rixner and Joseph Marie Degérando, finishing this itinerary with Georg Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Then I will show some reflections about Cudworth that proceed from the actualized bibliography on this author. The conclusions indicate the importance of studying this kind of thinkers, who are not part of the canon of philosophy but are part of the conformation of this same canon.

Resumen: En The True Intellectual System of the Universe Ralph Cudworth utiliza una gran cantidad de fuentes para reconstruir algunas doctrinas del pasado. En este trabajo propongo prestar atención al uso que realiza el inglés de la obra de Plutarco de Queronea. La hipótesis que guía el trabajo sostiene que Cudworth hace uso de esa obra como fuente del pensamiento antiguo a pesar de no estar enteramente de acuerdo con su interpretación de Platón. Esto significa que se aprecian dos niveles de lectura de las obras de Plutarco: por una parte, la expo-sición como fuente de otros autores; y por otra, la interpretación que el propio Plutarco realiza de las fuentes, en especial, de Platón. Esto me permitirá obtener algunas conclusiones sobre la labor de Cudworth como historiador de la filosofía y su relación con la filosofía platónica. Abstract: " Plutarch in 'The True Intellectual System of the Universe' ". In The True Intellectual System of the Universe Ralph Cudworth uses a great deal of sources in order to reconstruct past doctrines. In this paper, I propose that we pay attention to the way he uses Plutarch of Chaeronea's work. The hypothesis that guides this article sustains that Cudworth uses this work as a source of ancient thought despite not totally agreeing with his interpretation of Plato. This means that Plutarch's work has two levels of reading: on the one hand, its exposition as a source of other authors; and, on the other hand, the interpretation that Plutarch himself makes of his sources, especially, of Plato. This will allow me to draw some conclusions concerning Cudworth's work as a historian of philosophy and his relationship with Platonic philosophy.

This introductory article outlines the themes and aims of this special issue, which offers new perspectives on early modern debates about agency in two ways: First, it recovers writings on agency and liberty that have been widely neglected or that have received insufficient attention, including writings by Anne Conway, Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, William King, Gabrielle Suchon, Elizabeth Berkeley Burnet, Mary Astell, and Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Second, it reveals the richness of early modern debates about agency and liberty.

Resumen: En el presente artículo estudio la asociación entre los conceptos de "materialismo" y "ateísmo" en The True Intellectual System of the Universe de Ralph Cudworth y las consecuencias metafísicas que el inglés encuentra en esas corrientes. El inglés ofrece una clasificación exhaustiva de los posibles ateísmos para mostrar sus errores y participar en la gestación de categorías que a la larga se considerarán historiográficas. En un segundo momento, presento el concepto de "naturaleza plástica" y el orden ontológico que Cud-worth ofrece como el correcto, en el cual se aprecia la influencia platónica y la subordinación de lo material a lo inmaterial. Así, en su metafísica, Cudworth sostiene un dualismo porque no rechaza la existencia de la materia, sino la utilización errónea que hacen de ella los ateos. Palabras clave: platonismo de Cambridge, ateísmo, materia, escala ontológica, providencia Abstract: In this paper I examine the association between the concepts of "materialism" and "atheism" in Ralph Cudworth's The True Intellectual System of the Universe, and the metaphysical consequences that the Englishman establishes for those trends. Cudworth offers an exhaustive classification of possible atheisms in order to show their mistakes, and in this way he participates in the origination of categories which eventually will be considered as historiographical. I present then the concept of "Plastic Nature" and the ontological order that Cudworth thinks to be the correct one, and which exhibits the Platonic influence and the subordination of the material to the immaterial. Thus, in his metaphysics Cudworth maintains a dualism insofar as he does not reject the existence of matter but the wrong use that atheists make of it. Introducción En el siglo XVII inglés en el que surge el grupo conocido como los "plató-nicos de Cambridge", las convulsiones político-teológicas de la época se suman a los desarrollos filosóficos que se producen en esa modernidad

Resumen: En este artículo me propongo mostrar que en el universo armónico que propone Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688), destacado miembro del grupo de los Platónicos de Cambridge del siglo XVII, la sustancia inmaterial cumple un rol fundamental. Ella no se halla separada de la sustancia material y recibe distintos nombres de acuerdo a las funciones que desarrolla, en tanto es la única fuerza vital en la creación, fundada en la naturaleza divina. Es decir, la naturaleza plástica (plastic nature) y las almas no son más que distintos nombres para esa única sustancia inmaterial en el universo creado. Esto refleja una concepción dualista diferente al dualismo cartesiano, que tendrá consecuencias a nivel físico. Por eso, en primer lugar, presentaré la metafísica de Cudworth, para luego detenerme en la sustancia inmaterial. Para esto utilizaré su obra principal The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678) y sus dos escritos de publicación póstuma: Treatise concerning eternal and immutable Morality (1731) y Treatise on Freewill (1838).

INTRODUCTION-HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SUBVERSIVE IDEAS With regard to David Hume's Natural History of Religion (1757), Frank Manuel writes, in The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods (1967): Between the rationalist apologiae for the truths of revealed religion current in eighteenth-century England and a naturalistic interpretation of religious experience there was no great divide. The act of apology itself involved a momentous leap-objectifying the problem-and once this gap had been bridged the reduction of religious mystery to mere anthropology could not be long delayed. 1 The attempt to defend Christian revelation on 'rationalist' grounds, he writes, ultimately backfired. Thinkers in late seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century Britain developed theories of religion that, for Manuel, rendered Christian revelation theologically unnecessary, a priori, and historically improbable, a posteriori. That is, apologists for natural religion made such a strong case for its universality and sufficiency that any specific revelation, including Christian revelation manifested in the Bible, became superfluous. At the same time, historical investigations of early religion elaborated accounts of 'priestcraft' by which false claims to divine revelation were invented. Theological writings in defense of Christian doctrine were co-opted by radical deists who stripped away revelation in their account of true religious belief that derived from unaided human reason. Seemingly inevitably, this ended in Hume's account of religious belief as a product of human passions-the reduction of Mystery to mere anthropology. 2

Die systematische Diskussion um die Gültigkeit der These von der Unableitbarkeit eines Sollens aus einem Sein ist bis auf den heutigen Tag nicht abgeklungen.  Für unser Thema ist von Bedeutung, daß Befürworter wie Kritiker der sogenannten Sein/Sollen-Kluft immer wieder darauf hingewiesen haben, daß David Hume das historische Verdienst zukommt, als erster die metaethische These von der Unüberbrückbarkeit der Kluft zwischen ethischen Normen und Tatsachen formuliert zu haben.  - In der vorliegenden Magisterarbeit aus dem Jahre 1989, die an der Philipps-Universität Marburg entstanden ist, wird unter Rückgriff auf die zeitgenössischen Debatten, an denen sich Hume beteiligte und zu denen er Stellung bezog, versucht, eine überzeugende Interpretation in Auseinandersetzung mit der modernen Literatur zu entwickeln.