William Wollaston - Wikipedia William Wollaston From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search 17th/18th-century English priest and scholar For other people named William Wollaston, see William Wollaston (disambiguation). William Wollaston Born 26 March 1659 Coton-Clanford, Staffordshire Died 29 October 1724(1724-10-29) (aged 65) London Era 18th-century philosophy Region Western philosophy School Enlightenment Rationalism Main interests Ethics, philosophy of religion Notable ideas Religion derived from adherence to truth[1] Influences Clarke, Cudworth, Cumberland, Descartes, Locke, Newton Influenced John Clarke, John Conybeare, Samuel Johnson William Wollaston (/ˈwʊləstən/; 26 March 1659 – 29 October 1724) was a school teacher, Church of England priest, scholar of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, which he completed two years before his death: The Religion of Nature Delineated. He led a cloistered life, but in terms of eighteenth-century philosophy and the concept of natural religion, he is ranked with British Enlightenment philosophers such as Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Wollaston's work contributed to the development of two important intellectual schools: British Deism, and "the pursuit of happiness" moral philosophy of American Practical Idealism, a phrase which appears in the United States Declaration of Independence. Contents 1 Life 2 The Religion of Nature Delineated 2.1 Argument 2.2 Influence 3 Family 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Life[edit] Wollaston was born at Coton Clanford in Staffordshire, on 26 March 1659.[2] He was born to a family long-established in Staffordshire, and was distantly related to Sir John Wollaston, the Alderman and Lord Mayor of London.[3] However, his family was not wealthy. At the age of ten, he began school at a Latin school newly opened in Shenstone, Staffordshire, and continued in country free schools until he was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, at the age of 15, in June 1674.[4] From his writings it is clear that he was an excellent scholar, "extremely well versed" in languages and literature.[5] In his last year at Cambridge, Wollaston published anonymously a small book, On the Design of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Unreasonableness of Men's Restless Contention for the Present Enjoyments, represented in an English Poem (London, 1691).[2] Apparently embarrassed by his own work, Wollaston almost immediately suppressed it.[citation needed] Shenton Hall, Leicestershire After leaving Cambridge in September 1681, he became an assistant master at King Edward's School, Birmingham and took holy orders. At this time, he became Perpetual curate of St Mary's Church, Moseley from 1684 – 1686. In 1688 his cousin William Wollaston of Shenton left him a fortune and the family estates, including Finborough manor, Suffolk and the reversion of Shenton Hall, Leicestershire,[6][7] and in November of the same year he settled in London. There Wollaston devoted himself to private study of learning and philosophy, seldom leaving the city and declining to accept any public employment. In retirement, he published The Religion of Nature Delineated (1722) in a private edition. He wrote extensively on language, philosophy, religion, and history, but in the last few years of his life, he committed most of his manuscripts to the flames, as his health worsened and he began to feel that he would never be able to complete them to his satisfaction. Wollaston suffered from fragile health throughout his life. Just after completing The Religion of Nature Delineated, he broke his arm in an accident, and his strength declined and illnesses increased until his death on 29 October 1724. His body was carried to Great Finborough in Suffolk, where he was buried beside his wife. The Religion of Nature Delineated[edit] Main article: The Religion of Nature Delineated Argument[edit] The Religion of Nature Delineated was an attempt to create a system of ethics without recourse to revealed religion. He claimed originality for his theory that the moral evil is the practical denial of a true proposition and moral good the affirmation of it,[2] writing that this attempt to use mathematics to create a rationalist ethics was "something never met with anywhere". Wollaston "held that religious truths were plain as Euclid, clear to all who contemplated Creation."[1] Newton had induced natural laws from a mathematical model of the physical world; similarly, Wollaston was attempting to induce moral laws by a mathematical model of the moral world. Influence[edit] More than 10,000 copies were sold in the just first few years alone[1] with 15 imprints prior to 1800.[8] A biography of the author was added to the 8th edition in 1750.[2] Wollaston's idea of a Natural religion without revelation briefly inspired and revived the movement known as Deism in England. Some today consider him a "Christian Deist",[9] while others note that there is no "significant evidence that William Wollaston was not a more or less orthodox Christian."[10] Although Wollaston's ideas could be argued to have anticipated both Scottish Common Sense Realism[11] and Utilitarianism[12] proponents of later schools of philosophy criticised and sometimes even ridiculed Wollaston. These included Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Richard Price, and Jeremy Bentham.[13] After 1759 no further edition of his work was published in the rest of the century. Benjamin Franklin, worked as a compositor on one of the 1726 editions of the book and wrote the short pamphlet A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain although he found it "so shallow and unconvincing as to be embarrassing",[14] and burned as many copies as he could find. Although rejecting Deism[15] he retained a fondness for the "pursuit of happiness" believing that God was best served by doing good works and helping other people. It was a major influence on the American educator Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson's college philosophy textbooks. Its focus on practice as well as speculation attracted a more mature Franklin, who commissioned and published Johnson's textbook Elementa Philosophica in 1752, then promoted it in the College of Philadelphia (now Penn University).[16] Family[edit] On 26 November 1689, Wollaston married Catharine Charlton (died 21 July 1720). They had eleven children together, four of whom died within his lifetime. They included: Charlton, the eldest son, died unmarried in 1729[17] William, Member of Parliament for Ipswich[17] Francis (1694–1774) FRS, third son[18] John, fifth son, died 1720.[19] References[edit] ^ a b c Porter, Roy, The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment, W. W. Norton & Company, 2001, p. 112. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911. ^ John Clarke, A Preface containing A General Account of the Life, Character, and Writings of the Author, The Religion of Nature Delineated, 1750 ed. ^ "Wollaston, William (WLSN674W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. ^ Altmann, Alexander, "William Wollaston (1659–1724): English Deist and Rabbinic Scholar", Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England), Vol. 16, (1945–1951), pp. 185–211 ^ Will of William Wollaston of Shenton, Leicestershire (P.C.C. 1688, Exton quire). ^ Shenton Hall was devised to his benefactor's widow until her death (in 1717): R.E.C. Waters, Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley, Their Ancestors and Descendants, 2 vols (Robson and Sons, London 1878), II, pp. 525-26 (Internet Archive) ^ English Short Title Catalog, http://estc.bl.uk/ search on "Wollaston, William", retrieved 28 October 2013 ^ Porter, p. 112 ^ Barnett, S. J., The Enlightenment and Religion: The Myths of Modernity, Manchester University Press, 2003, p. 89 ^ His view that science and math could define a morality based on nature predated the scientific morality of Scottish Common Sense Realism ^ Wollaston also held that a person is happy when the sum total of pleasure exceeds pains ^ see Becker Lawrence, and Becker, Charlotte, Encyclopedia of Ethics, Charlotte B. Becker, Volume 3, ISBN 0415936721, 9780415936729, Taylor & Francis US, 2001, p. 1818 ^ Isaacson, Walter, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Simon and Schuster, 2004 p. 45 ^ Issacson, p. 46 ^ Schneider, Herbert and Carol, Samuel Johnson, President of King's College: His Career and Writings, Columbia University Press, 4 vols., 1929, Volume I, p.23 ^ a b Young, B. W. "Wollaston, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29841. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ "Wollaston, Francis (WLSN712F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. ^ "Wollaston, John (WLSN715J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Further reading[edit] John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century (1817) p. 833 John Clarke (1750): A Preface containing A General Account of the Life, Character, and Writings of the Author, from the 1750 edition of The Religion of Nature Delineated. External links[edit] Wikisource has original works written by or about: William Wollaston Portraits of William Wollaston at the National Portrait Gallery, London Works by or about William Wollaston in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Attribution:  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wollaston, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 776.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Stephen, Leslie (1900). "Wollaston, William (1660-1724)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 62. 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(April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) William Wollaston priest, master and scholar (1659–1724) Catherine Charlton (1670–1720) John Francis Fauquier bank director (1672–1726) Elizabeth Chamberlayne (1676–1748) Francis Wollaston scientist (1694–1774) Mary Fauquier (1702–1773) Francis Fauquier governor (1703–1768) Elizabeth Fauquier (1706–1764) William Wollaston MP (1693–1764) William Wollaston army colonel and MP (1731–1797) Frederick Wollaston (1735–1801) Priscilla Ottley (1740–1819) William Heberden physician (1710–1801) Mary Wollaston (1730–1813) Francis Wollaston priest and astronomer (1731–1815) Althea Hyde (1738–1798) Charlton Wollaston physician (1733–1764) George Wollaston priest (1738–1826) Thomas Heberden priest (1754–1843) Althea Hyde Wollaston (1760–1785) Francis John Hyde Wollaston natural philosophy professor (1762–1823) George Hyde Wollaston (1765–1841) Mary Anne Luard (1774–1817) William Hyde Wollaston chemist and physicist (1766–1828) Henry John Wollaston (1770–1833) Louisa Symons (1784–1833) Alexander Luard Wollaston (1805–1874) Susannah Charlotte Morris (1807–1894) Henrietta Wollaston (1807–1873) George Pollock army field-marshal and baronet (1786– 1872) Frances Buchanan (1786–1827) Henry Septimus Hyde Wollaston (1776–1867) Mary Ann Blanckenhagen (1778–1805) George Hyde Wollaston (1844–1926) Sarah Constance Richmond (1847–1931) Charles Buchanan Wollaston priest (1816–1887) Eleanor Reynolds (1824–1891) Thomas Vernon Wollaston entomologist and malacologist (1822–1878) Julia Adye Catharine Buchanan (1816–1910) George Buchanan Wollaston architect and botanist (1814–1899) Henry Francis Wollaston (1803–1876) Elizabeth Rumsey Naylor (1816–1879) Alexander Richmond Wollaston surgeon and explorer (1875–1930) Stanley George Buchanan Wollaston (1848–1923) Caroline Elizabeth Harper (1854–1898) Charles Henry Reynolds Wollaston footballer (1849–1926) Arthur Naylor Wollaston civil servant and author (1842–1922) Caroline Marianne Woods (1844–1902) Herbert Arthur Buchanan Wollaston navy rear-admiral (1878–1975) Margaret Ermyntrude Buchanan Wollaston (1885–1944) Charles Earle Raven theology professor (1885—1964) Gerald Woods Wollaston herald (1874–1957) John Earle Raven philosopher (1914–1980) Notes: Source: Wollaston Family Tree Family tree of the Wollaston family Authority control BNF: cb12069750b (data) GND: 100483976 ISNI: 0000 0000 8086 2006 LCCN: n86144408 NLG: 149380 NTA: 080135897 PLWABN: 9810532416405606 SUDOC: 028972821 Trove: 1016159 VIAF: 7413290 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n86144408 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Wollaston&oldid=973861228" Categories: 1659 births 1724 deaths Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge English philosophers Philosophers of religion People from the Borough of Stafford Hidden categories: Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata EngvarB from August 2014 Use dmy dates from August 2014 Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020 Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Articles incorporating Cite DNB template Articles incorporating DNB text with Wikisource reference Articles needing additional references from April 2015 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLG identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikisource Languages Deutsch Français 한국어 Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 19 August 2020, at 17:17 (UTC). 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