René Descartes (1596–1650)
Voluntarist (or at least winks at voluntarism)
“Letter to Mersenne, 15 April 1630”
“Letter to Mersenne, 6 May 1630”
“Letter to Mersenne, 27 May 1630”
Meditationes de prima philosophia (1641)
[No description yet.]
French:
English:
“Letter to Chanut, 1 February 1647”
“Conversation with Burman, 16 April 1648”
Les passions de l’âme (1649)
[No description yet.]
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
Subversive, egoist, modern natural law theory
Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (1640)
[Consists of two parts: Humane Nature and De Corpore Politico.]
De Cive (Elementa Philosophiæ III) (1642)
[No description yet.]
Leviathan (1651)
[No description yet.]
Latin: Published as new edition 1668
De Corpore (Elementa Philosophiæ I) (1655)
[No description yet.]
De Homine (Elementa Philosophiæ II) (1658)
[No description yet.]
Latin: 1658
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)
Egoist, Stoic?, influenced by Descartes, Hobbes
Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670)
[No description yet.]
English:
Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (1677)
[No description yet.]
English:
Tractatus politicus (1677)
[No description yet.]
English:
Samuel Pufendorf (1632–1688)
Divine sanction, modern natural law theory, crypto-Hobbesian or good Grotian?
Elementorum jurisprudentiæ universalis libri II (1660)
[Often called the Elementa.]
English: Translated as
Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence (
modern edition)
De jure naturæ et gentium (1672)
[No description yet.]
French: Translated with commentary by Barbeyrac as
Le droit de la nature et des gens (1706:
vol I,
vol II)
English: Translated as
Of the Law of Nature and Nations (
1703,
1729 (includes Barbeyrac’s commentary))
De officio hominis et civis (1673)
[No description yet.]
French: Translated by Barbeyrac as
Les devoirs de l’
homme,
et du citoien (1707,
1708, 1718:
vol I,
vol II)
English: Translated as
The Whole Duty of Man According to the Law of Nature (1691,
1716 (includes Barbeyrac’s commentary),
1735 (ditto),
modern edition online (ditto)), or as
On the Duty of Man and Citizen According to Natural Law (
modern edition)
Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688)
Cambridge Platonist, rationalist, divine intellectualist, critic of voluntarism, critic of Hobbes
The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1671/1678)
[No description yet.]
A Treatise concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality (1731)
[No description yet.]
Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715)
Rationalist, divine intellectualist
De la recherche de la vérité (1674–75)
[The main text contains Malebranche’s influential theory of the passions, as well as the pure ‘inclinations’ all minds share in common. Éclaircissement 10 contains a critique of Cartesian voluntarism, and a statement of divine intellectualism about moral obligation.]
Traité de morale (1684)
[Part I begins with a statement of divine intellectualism about morality. It goes on to provide an account of the acquisition of the great virtue of charity by means of getting intellectual enlightenment, seeking the helpful feelings of grace, and avoiding the harmful feelings of the senses, imagination, and passions. Part II examines our duties to God, to others, and to ourselves.]
Réflexions sur la prémotion physique (1715)
[Defends free will in a dispute with fellow occasionalist Laurent Boursier over how much room the divine will leaves for human freedom to maneuver. Contains a critique of unrestricted voluntarism from around chapters 18–20.]
English: No complete translation yet.
Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)
Subversive, rationalist, follower of Malebranche (in early work), defender of religious toleration, radical realist (in later work)
Pensées diverses sur la comète (1682, 1683)
[Known for its then-paradoxical thesis that atheists could be moral: because one’s behavior has more to do with one’s passions and inclinations than with one’s philosophical principles, a society of atheists could fare decently well (at least as well as a society of idolatrous pagans).]
French:
Commentaire philosophique (1686–88)
[This defense of religious toleration argues that Biblical interpretation must be subordinated to the eternal truths of morality known by reason, and that the wrongness of violence and the sanctity of conscience are far clearer than any peculiar theological opinion.]
French: 1686–88
Continuation des pensées diverses (1705)
[Bayle presses his defense of atheists still further, arguing (among other things) that atheists can do as well as theists when it comes to philosophically accounting for the eternal truths of moral obligation.]
English: No complete translation yet. Snippets can be found in Leibniz’s Theodicy and in some editions of Hume’s Dialogues.
Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
Rationalist, divine intellectualist
Discours de métaphysique (1686)
[No description yet.]
“Meditation sur la notion commune de la justice” (c. 1702–03)
[No description yet.]
Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain (1704)
[No description yet.]
“Monita quædam ad Samuelis Puffendorfii principia” (1706)
French: Translated as “Avertissements sur les principes de Samuel Pufendorf” (
modern edition)
English: Translated as “Opinion on the Principles of Pufendorf” (
modern edition)
Essais de théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu (1710)
[No description yet.]
()
Christian Thomasius (1655–1728)
[No description yet.]
Institutiones jurisprudentiae divinae (1688)
[No description yet.]
German: Translated as Drey Bücher der Göttlichen Rechtsgelahrtheit (1709)
Einleitung zur Sittenlehre (1692)
[No description yet.]
Ausübung der Sittenlehre (1696)
[No description yet.]
Fundamenta juris naturae et gentium (1705)
[No description yet.]
German: Translated as Grundlehren des Natur- und Völcker-Rechts (1709)
John Locke (1632–1704)
Divine sanction, modern natural law theory, defender of (limited) religious toleration
Essays on the Law of Nature (c. 1660)
[No description yet.]
“An Essay concerning Toleration” (1667)
[No description yet.]
English:
Epistola de tolerantia (1689)
[No description yet.]
Latin:
English: Translated as
A Letter concerning Toleration (
1689)
An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690)
[No description yet.]
Two Treatises of Government (1690)
[No description yet.]
A Second Letter concerning Toleration (1690)
[No description yet.]
A Third Letter for Toleration (1692)
[No description yet.]
An Answer to Remarks Upon an Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (1697)
[No description yet.]
A Fourth Letter for Toleration (1704, published 1706)
[No description yet.]
Thomas Burnet (c. 1635–1715)
Rationalist, Cambridge Platonist fellow traveller, critic of Locke, criticized by Cockburn
Remarks upon an Essay concerning Humane Understanding (1697)
[Worries that Lockean empiricism cannot account for moral objectivity (or our quick and sense-like intellectual apprehensions of moral distinctions), asks Locke to clear up his stance on Euthyphro questions, and asks Locke to explain his talk of moral demonstration.]
Second Remarks upon an Essay concerning Humane Understanding (1697)
[No description yet.]
Third Remarks upon an Essay concerning Humane Understanding (1699)
[No description yet.]
Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744)
Translator of, commentator on, Grotius and Pufendorf and Cumberland
Le droit de la nature et des gens (Pufendorf, 1706)
[No description yet.]
English: Translated as
Of the Law of Nature and Nations (
1729)
Les devoirs de l’homme, et du citoien (Pufendorf, 1707)
[No description yet.]
Le droit de la guerre, et de la paix (Grotius, 1724)
[No description yet.]
Traité Philosophique des Loix Naturelles (Cumberland, 1744)
[No description yet.]
Catharine Trotter Cockburn (1679–1749)
Rationalist, divine intellectualist
A Defence of the Essay of Human Understanding, written by Mr. Lock (1702)
[Defense of Locke—or the possibility of founding moral objectivity on Lockean principles—against Thomas Burnet’s series of Remarks.]
English:
Remarks on Mr Seed’s Sermon on moral virtue ()
[No description yet.]
English:
Remarks upon some Writers in the Controversy concerning the Foundation of Moral Virtue (1743)
[Following Clarke and citing Balguy, Cockburn presents a rationalist critique of King and Law’s divine sanction theory, Johnson’s Essay, George Johnston’s radical realist Eternal Obligation of Natural Religion, and Warburton’s Divine Legation (with brief comments on Bayle’s Continuation).]
English:
Remarks upon the Principles and Reasonings of Dr. Rutherforth’s Essay (1747)
[Critique of Rutherforth’s Essay.]
English:
Correspondence with Thomas Sharp (1751)
[No description yet.]
English: In Cockburn’s
Works (1751), in Sharp’s
Works (1755?,
1763)
Samuel Clarke (1675–1729)
Rationalist, divine intellectualist
A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God (1st Boyle Lectures; 1704)
[No description yet.]
English:
A Discourse concerning the Obligations of Natural Religion, and the Truth and Certainty of the Christian
Revelation (2nd Boyle Lectures; 1705)
[No description yet.]
Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury) (1671–1713)
Figurehead of sentimentalism; influenced by Cambridge Platonism, reacted against Locke; objective teleology, harmony between self-interest and virtue, self-approval, aesthetic turn
An Inquiry concerning Virtue, or Merit (1699), in Characteristicks
[No description yet.]
The Moralists, a Philosophical Rhapsody (1709), in Characteristicks
[No description yet.]
Characteristicks (1711)
[No description yet.]
Bishop George Berkeley (1685–1753)
Divine benevolence, divine command, critic of Mandeville, critic of Shaftesbury
Passive Obedience (1712)
[No description yet.]
Alciphron: or, the Minute Philosopher (1732)
[No description yet.]
Bernard de Mandeville (1670–1733)
Cynical, subversive, theorist of spontaneous order, defender of religious toleration; influenced by Bayle, reacted against Shaftesbury, disputed with Berkeley, criticized by Law and Hutcheson
The Grumbling Hive: Or, Knaves Turn’d Honest (1705)
[No description yet.]
Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits (1714)
[No description yet.]
A Letter to Dion (1732)
[No description yet.]
Christian Wolff (1679–1754)
Rationalist, radical realist??
Vernünftige Gedanken von der Menschen Thun und Lassen (1720)
[No description yet.]
English:
Philosophia practica universalis (1739)
[No description yet.]
English:
Philosophia moralis sive Ethica (1750–53)
[No description yet.]
English:
Richard Fiddes (1671–1725)
Follower of Malebranche, critic of Mandeville and Shaftesbury, divine sanction?
A General Treatise of Morality, Form’d upon the Principles of Natural Reason only (1724)
[No description yet.]
Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746)
Sentimentalist, critic of egoism, critic of rationalism, divine benevolence; critic of Hobbes and Mandeville, follower of Shaftesbury
“Reflections on our common systems of morality” (14 and 21 November 1724)
[A short text (published in the London Journal) arguing that morality must be based in something heartfelt. He criticizes Pufendorf and Hobbes for their appeal to interest.]
Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725)
[No description yet.]
“Letters between the late Mr. G. Burnet and Mr. Hutcheson” (1725)
[Exchange between Hutcheson and the rationalist Gilbert Burnet (published in the London Journal) that gave birth to the Illustrations.]
Reflections upon Laughter, and Remarks upon the Fable of the Bees in Six Letters (1725–26)
[No description yet.]
An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections: With Illustrations on the Moral Sense (1728)
[No description yet.]
De naturali hominum socialitate oratio inauguralis (1730)
[No description yet.]
Latin:
English: Translated as
Inaugural Lecture on the Social Nature of Man (
modern edition)
Philosophiae moralis institutio compendiaria (1742)
[No description yet.]
A System of Moral Philosophy (1755)
[No description yet.]
John Clarke of Hull (1687–1734)
Divine sanction theorist, psychological hedonist
An Examination of the the Notion of Moral Good and Evil (1725)
[Critique of Wollaston’s Religion of Nature Delineated.]
The Foundation of Morality in Theory and Practice (1726)
[Critique of Clarke’s 2nd Boyle Lectures, Hutcheson’s
Inquiry. This prompted an anonymous criticism of him for treating Samuel Clarke unfairly:
A letter to Mr. John Clarke, ....]
An Examination of What Has Been Advanced Relating to Moral Obligation (1730)
[Critique of Sykes’s Defense, makes use of the anti-rationalism critique in Hutcheson’s Illustrations.]
Thomas Bott (1687–1734)
Rationalist, critic of Wollaston, Butler, Warburton
The Principal and Peculiar Notion Advanc’d in a Late Book, intitled The Religion of Nature Delineated; Consider’d and Refuted (1725)
[No description yet.]
English: 1725
Morality, founded in the Reason of Things, and the Ground of Revelation (1730)
[No description yet.]
English: 1730
Remarks upon Dr. Butler’s Sixth Chapter of the Analogy of Religion, &c. concerning Necessity; And also upon the Dissertation of the Nature of Virtue (1737)
[No description yet.]
English: 1737
An Answer to the Reverend Mr. Warburton’s Divine Legation of Moses, In Three Parts (1743)
Bishop Joseph Butler (1692–1752)
Teleological conception of human nature, critic of egoism, divine benevolence, influenced by Shaftesbury?
Fifteen Sermons
[No description yet.]
Analogy of Religion (1736)
[
2.1 touches on the Waterland-Sykes controversy.]
“Of the Nature of Virtue” (1736,
1771)
[No description yet.]
English:
John Balguy (1686–1748)
Rationalist, follower of Clarke, critic of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson
A Letter to a Deist, Concerning the Beauty and Excellency of Moral Virtue (1726)
[Critique of Shaftesbury’s Inquiry, agreeing that virtue must be distinguished from interest, but defending interested motives as a highly useful supplement to virtuous motives.]
The Foundation of Moral Goodness (1728–29)
[Rationalist critique of Hutcheson’s Inquiry and Illustrations. The work comes into two parts; the second part replies to objections.]
Divine Rectitude (1730)
[No description yet.]
The Law of Truth (1733)
[The
Preface of this work is a supplement to
Divine Rectitude.]
A Supplement concerning Rectitude (1734)
[Friendly critique of Grove’s Wisdom.]
Archibald Campbell (1691–1756)
Critic of Mandeville (and thereby other subversives: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle) and Hutcheson
ΑΡΕΤΗ-ΛΟΓΙΑ, or An Enquiry into the Original of Moral Virtue (1728)
[No description yet.]
Daniel Waterland (1683–1740)
[No description yet.]
Remarks Upon Doctor Clarke’s Exposition of the Church-Catechism (1730)
[A lengthy paragraph criticizing Clarke for emphasizing moral virtues at the expense of positive commands triggered a controversy between Waterland and Sykes.]
The Nature, Obligation, and Efficacy, of the Christian Sacraments, Considered (1730)
A Supplement to the Treatise, ... (1730)
[A reply to Sykes’s Defence.]
Arthur Ashley Sykes (1684–1756)
[No description yet.]
An Answer to the Remarks Upon Dr Clarke’s Exposition of the Church-Catechism (1730)
[A defense of Clarke in reply to Waterland’s Remarks.]
English: 1730
A Defence of the Answer... (1730)
[A reply to Waterland’s Nature.]
English: 1730
The True Foundations of Natural and Reveal’d Religion Asserted (1730)
[A reply to Waterland’s
Supplement. This work drew a reply from Thomas Johnson (see below), and Waterland replied with
a Postscript to his next work. Sykes replied in turn with an answer to this (
An Answer to the Postscript of the Second Part of Scripture Vindicated), but the discussion lost its metaethical dimension.]
Thomas Chubb (1679–1747)
[No description yet.]
The Comparative Excellence and Obligation of Moral and Positive Duties (1730)
[Chubb weighs in on the Waterland-Sykes controversy, defending rationalism.]
English:
1730,
1733 (as
Some Reflections upon the Comparative Excellency of Moral and Positive Duties)
The Ground and Foundation of Morality Considered (1745)
[Critique of Rutherforth...]
William Warburton (1698–1779)
Voluntarist
The Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist (1738)
[Begins by defending a ‘threefold cord’ version of divine command theory, synthesizing voluntarism with rationalism and sentimentalism, against the subversive views of Bayle’s Continuation. The rest of the work is devoted to showing that the laws of Moses must be of divine origin because they lacked the afterlife sanctions one would expect of merely human laws.]
A View of Lord Bolingbroke’s Philosophy (1754)
David Hume (1711–1776)
Sentimentalist, critic of rationalism (Clarke, Balguy, Wollaston)
A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40)
[No description yet.]
“Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion” (1741)
[No description yet.]
“Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature” (1741)
[No description yet.]
“The Epicurean”, “The Stoic”, “The Platonist”, “The Sceptic” (1742)
[No description yet.]
A Letter From a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh (1745)
[No description yet.]
“Of the Original Contract” (1748)
[No description yet.]
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748)
[In a footnote to Section I (or Essay I) of early editions, Hume cites Hutcheson’s critique of rationalism and Butler’s argument that all passions are equally disinterested as success stories for the sort of careful study of human psychology he is recommending.]
An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
[No description yet.]
A Dissertation on the Passions (1757)
[No description yet.]
“Of the Standard of Taste” (1757)
[No description yet.]
Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791)
Rationalist, admirer of Shaftesbury and Addison, critic of King and Bolingbroke, against Lockean demonstration, necessitarian after Priestley
A Treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth (1783)
[No description yet.]
English:
Letters on Education (1790)
[No description yet.]
English:
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Autonomy; critic of Crusius, Hutcheson, Wolff
Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (1785)
[No description yet.]
Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788)
[No description yet.]
Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft (1793)
[No description yet.]
Die Metaphysik der Sitten (1797)
[No description yet.]
Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht (1798)
[No description yet.]
