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PRIESTLEY's METAPHYSICS Being a Thesis Submitted in 1987 As View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PhilPapers PRIESTLEY'S METAPHYSICS being a thesis submitted in 1987 as fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Western Australia by Alan Tapper B.A. (U.W.A.), M.A. (Lancaster) Department of Philosophy University of Western Australia I accordance with the Regulations governing the submission of theses I hereby declare that I have acknowledged all sources in my thesis, and that the thesis is my own composition. Alan Tapper ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Emeritus Professor S. A. Grave, who supervised the first half of this thesis (Chapters One to Five), has been exceptionally generous with both criticism and encouragement. Awareness that I had to try to meet his exacting standards of scholarship has, I hope, improved the thesis as much as it has delayed its completion. My debt to Associate Professor Julius Kovesi, who supervised Chapters Six to Nine, is not easy to describe. Perhaps to say that is itself describe what I have valued most in him. His freedom from orthodox habits of thought, and his generosity and range in discussion, have been a regular source of refreshment for some years. Priestley's motto was Ars longa, vita breva. Mine, I fear, has been just Ars longa. Two things made the completion of the work both possible and pleasurable. The peace and beauty of Julius' place at Coondle helped to unravel a tangled skein of ideas. The speed and efficiency of Dick Porter's word-processor translated them into acceptable type-script. Anne Porter, Janet Hellings and my mother kindly relieved me of many hours child- minding. I am very grateful for their unfailing and cheerful help to me and my family. My wife Robin has supported me in many ways, but most of all by just being herself. ABSTRACT Joseph Priestley was a man of many and varied intellectual interests. This thesis surveys his philosophical thought, with a central focus on his philosophical theology. The subject can be divided into two parts, natural theology and moral theology. Priestley's natural theology is a perhaps unique attempt to combine and harmonize materialism, determinism and theism, under the auspices of Newtonian methodology. His materialism is based on three arguments: that interaction between matter and spirit is impossible; that a dynamic theory of matter breaks down the active/passive dichotomy assumed by many dualists; and that Newton's "Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy" require the rejection of the "hypothesis" of the soul. His determinism arises from his theory of causation. He attempts to show that the only acceptable account of causation is one in which every cause is invariably followed by the same effect, and that libertarianism violates this central assumption of scientific thought. His theism rests on the Argument from Design. He defends the Argument by trying to show that none of the alternatives to Design advanced in Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion constitute a plausible scientific hypothesis. His critics accused his synthesis of materialism, determinism and theism of leading to atheism or pantheism. His defence against these charges is that his system is essentially theistic, and that its ontology is determined by the Argument from Design. Priestley's moral theology is also in part a response to Hume's Dialogues. He offers a number of replies to the "problem of evil". Evil and adversity heighten our appreciation of good; they are a consequence of the finitude of the creation; they follow from the desir- ability of having a world governed by general laws; and they make possible the achievement of moral character. Character-formation is his main defence, and his methodology requires him to show that adversity leads more often than not to positive results. This requirement is embodied in his progressivist philosophy of history. History, he holds, exhibits temporal purpose and Design, just as nature exhibits atemporal purpose and Design. Priestley's political thought can be seen as arising from his moral theology, mediated by the notions of "luxury", which he regards as morally harmless, and "idleness", which is the main source of moral evil. His combination of liberalism and radicalism is examined both for internal consistency and as a response to the events of his day, ending with the French Revolution. Priestley is interesting partly for his unorthodoxy, partly for the interconnectedness of his diverse concerns, and partly because he debated with distinguished contemporaries. Throughout the thesis his views are juxtaposed with those of Hume, Reid, Price, Boscovich, Burke and a number of other thinkers. ABBREVIATIONS References to the Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, 25 volumes in 26, edited by John Towill Rutt, (London, 1817-1832; reprinted New York, 1972), are signified in the text as, e.g., (III,91). Volume One is in two parts; Part One is referred to as (I,1,91), Part Two as (I,2,91). Priestley's titles have been abbreviated as: Matter and Spirit = Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit, 2nd edition, 1782. Philosophical Necessity = The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity Illustrated, 2nd edition, 1782. Examination = An Examination of Dr Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense; Dr Beattie's Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth; and Dr Oswald's Appeal to Common Sense in Behalf of Religion, 2nd edition, 1775. "Introductory Essays" = Priestley's introduction to his abridged edition of David Hartley's Observations on Man, entitled Hartley's Theory of the Human Mind, on the Principle of the Association of Ideas, 2nd edition, 1790. Free Discussion = A Free Discussion of the Doctrines of Materialism and Philosophical Necessity, in a Correspondence between Dr Price and Dr Priestley, 1st edition, 1778. Philosophical Unbeliever = Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever, Part I, 2nd edition, 1787. Additional Letters = Additional Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever, 2nd edition, 1787. Institutes = Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion, 2nd edition, 1782. Essay on Government = An Essay on the First Principles of Government, and on the Nature of Political, Civil and Religious Liberty, 2nd edition, 1771. Observations on Education = Miscellaneous Observations relating to Education more especially as it respects the Conduct of the Mind, 1st edition, 1778. Lectures on History = Lectures on History and General Policy, 2nd edition, 1803. Letter to Pitt = A Letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt, 2nd edition, 1787. Letters to Burke, = Letters to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, occasioned by his Reflections on the Revolution in France, 3rd edition, 1791. Political Dialogue = A Political Dialogue. On the General Principles of Government, 1st edition, 1791. Northumberland Letters = Letters to the Inhabitants of Northumberland and its Neighbourhood on Subjects Interesting to the Author, and to Them, 2nd edition, 1801. I have preferred Matter and Spirit as my abbreviation instead of the more usual, but less descriptive, Disquisitions. Where it has seemed necessary to distinguish between the different editions of Priestley's works, this has been done explicitly. I have modernized Priestley's punctuation and deleted italics where these have only hindered the flow of his sentences. All remaining italics are Priestley's, except where it is indicated otherwise. Cross-references within the thesis are as follows: "Section 5.2(iii)" refers to Chapter 5, Section 2, sub-section (iii). CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE : MATERIALISM (1) 1.1 The Motives to Materialism 1.2 Materialism and the Problem of Interaction (i) The Examination (ii) The "Introductory Essays" (iii) Matter and Spirit 1.3 Materialism and the Theory of Matter CHAPTER TWO : MATERIALISM (2) 2.1 The Hypothesis of the Soul (i) Following the phenomena (ii) Interpreting Newton's Rules (iii) Applying the Rules to the mind (iv) Applying the Rules in science (v) Defending the Rules 2.2 Systems, Beings and Powers 2.3 The Nature of Ideas CHAPTER THREE : DETERMINISM 3.1 The Causal Argument 3.2 Price and the Dual Theory of Causation 3.3 Reid and the Agency Theory of Causation 3.4 The Theory of Causation (i) Universal causation (ii) Accidental generalizations (iii) Reasoning from effects to causes 3.5 Metaphysical and Natural Causes CHAPTER FOUR : THEISM 4.1 Hume's Dialogues and Priestley's Philosophical Unbeliever 4.2 The Argument from Design and its Difficulties 4.3 The Hypothesis of Design and its Rivals (i) Hume and "generation" (ii) Turner and "generation" (iii) Hume, Turner and "eternal generation" (iv) Hume and the "Epicurean hypothesis" (v) Erasmus Darwin and the origins of life CHAPTER FIVE : AGAINST PANTHEISM 5.1 Atheism and Pantheism 5.2 Atheism and Materialism 5.3 Pantheism and Materialism (i) The world as the brain of God (ii) God's brain distinct from the world 5.4 Pantheism and Determinism (i) The doctrine of the infinite world (ii) Design, determinism and pantheism (iii) Divine causation and pantheism 5.5 Pantheism and the Theory of Matter CHAPTER SIX : OPTIMISM AND PROGRESS (1) 6.1 The Concept of Optimism 6.2 The Problem of Evil (i) Contrast (ii) Finitude and plenitude (iii) System (iv) Character 6.3 The Historiography of Progress CHAPTER SEVEN : OPTIMISM AND PROGRESS (2) 7.1 The Mechanics of Progress (i) Acquisition (ii) Accumulation 7.2 The Epistemology of Optimism (i) Empiricism (ii) Analogy (iii) The necessity of adversity (iv) Original inertia CHAPTER EIGHT : OPTIMISM AND POLITICS (1) 8.1 Politics and Religion 8.2 Luxury and Idleness 8.3 Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives 8.4 Against Aristocracy 8.5 Varieties of Radicalism 8.6 Liberalism CHAPTER NINE : OPTIMISM AND POLITICS (2) 9.1 Retrogression: England 9.2 Utopianism: France 9.3 Revolution and the Millennium BIBLIOGRAPHY ... the boldest and most original experimenters are those who, giving free scope to their imaginations, admit the combination of the most distant ideas; and ..
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