William Wollaston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| William Wollaston | |
|---|---|
| Full name | William Wollaston |
| Born | 26 March 1659 |
| Died | 29 October 1724 (aged 65) |
| Era | 18th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | enlightenment philosophy, rationalism |
| Main interests | Ethics, Religion |
| Notable ideas | religion derived from adherence to truth, non-aggression principle, moral realism, natural law |
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William Wollaston (26 March 1659 – 29 October 1724) was an English philosophical writer. He is remembered today for one book, which he completed only two years before his death: The Religion of Nature Delineated (1st ed. 1722; 2nd ed. 1724).
He was born at Coton Clanford in Staffordshire, on 26 March 1659. 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.[1] 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.[2]
After leaving Cambridge in September 1681, he became an assistant master at the Birmingham grammar school, and took holy orders. In 1688 an uncle left him a fortune and an estate at Shenton Hall, Leicestershire, and in November of the same year he settled in London. On 26 November 1689, he married Catharine Charlton. They had eleven children together, four of whom died within his lifetime. They lived happily together for 30 years, until Catharine's death on 21 July 1720. Wollaston also 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).
In London, Wollaston devoted himself to private study of learning and philosophy, seldom leaving the city and declining to accept any public employment. 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's Religion of Nature, which falls between Clarke's Discourse of the Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion and Butler's Sermons, was one of the popular philosophical books of its day. To the 8th edition (1750) was added a life of the author.
The book was designed to be an answer to two questions: Is there such a thing as natural religion? and, If there is, what is it? Wollaston starts with the assumption that religion and morality are identical, and labours to show that religion is "the pursuit of happiness by the practice of truth and reason." He claims originality for his theory that the moral evil is the practical denial of a true proposition and moral good the affirmation of it (see ethics).
In retirement, he published The Religion of Nature Delineated (1722). This was a work of constructive (positive) deism rather than critical (negative) deism. As John Orr notes, "The fact that a seventh edition was issued in the year 1746 indicates something of the popularity and influence of the book."[3]
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.
[edit] References
- ^ 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 in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ^ Orr, John (1934). English Deism: Its Roots and Its Fruits. Eerdmans. pp. 137.
- 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.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- Portraits of William Wollaston at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Works by or about William Wollaston in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
