William Wollaston Philosopher

William Wollaston (/ˈwʊləstən/; 26 March 1659 – 29 October 1724) was school teacher, a Church of England priest, a scholar of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, a theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. 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). Yet despite his cloistered life and his single book, due to his influence on eighteenth-century philosophy and his promotion of a Natural Religion, he may be considered one of the great British Enlightenment philosophers, along with Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. His work contributed to the development of two important intellectual schools: British Deism, and "the pursuit of happiness" moral philosophy of American Practical Idealism. It appears notably in the Declaration of Independence.

Personal facts

Alias (AKA)N. N.
Birth dateMarch 26, 1659
Birth place
Staffordshire , Coton Clanford
Date of deathOctober 29, 1724
Place of death
London
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Main interest
Ethics
Religion

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Philosopher

influenced
John Conybeare
John Clarke (Dean of Salisbury)
influenced by
Ralph Cudworth
Richard Cumberland (philosopher)
Samuel Clarke
notable idea
Natural law
Moral realism
Non-aggression principle
philosophical school
Age of Enlightenment
Rationalism

William Wollaston on Wikipedia

External resources

  1. http://fair-use.org/william-wollaston/the-religion-of-nature-delineated
  2. http://fair-use.org/william-wollaston/the-religion-of-nature-delineated/preface