DOCSLIB.ORG

Scepsis Scientifica, Or the Vanity of Dogmatizing

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scepsis Scientifica, Or the Vanity of Dogmatizing SCEPSIS SCIENTIFICA, Or THE VANITY OF DOGMATIZING By JOSEPH GLANVILL Published by the Ex-classics Project, 2011 http://www.exclassics.com Public Domain SCEPSIS SCIENTIFICA, OR THE VANITY OF DOGMATIZING CONTENTS Bibliographic Note .................................................................................................... 5 The Dedicatory Epistle.............................................................................................. 7 The Preface. .............................................................................................................. 9 Three Poetical Testimonials......................................................................................12 AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSEPH GLANVILL. By John Owen........................................................................................................................15 AN ADDRESS TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY...........................................................27 Scepsis Scientifica; or, The Vanity of Dogmatizing..................................................34 Chap. I. A general description of the state of primitive ignorance; by way of introduction..............................................................................................................34 Chap. II. Our decay and ruins by the fall; particularly those of our intellectual powers. .................................................................................................................................36 Chap. III. A general account of our ignorance of our own natures.............................38 Chap. IV. Some great instances of our ignorance discoursed of, (i) of things within ourselves. The nature of the soul and its origin, glanced at and passed by: (1) its union with the body is unconceivable: so (2) is its moving the body, considered either in the way of Sir K. Digby, Descartes, or Dr. H. More, and the Platonists. (3) the manner of direction of the spirits, as unexplicable. ....................................................................40 Chap. V. (4) we can give no account of the manner of Sensation. ............................44 Chap. VI. The nature of the memory unaccountable. 'Tis considered particularly according to the Aristotelian, Cartesian, Digbean and Hobbian hypothesis. ..............46 Chap. VII. How our bodies are formed unexplicable. The plastic signifies nothing: the formation of plants, and animals unknown, in their principle. Mechanism solves it not. A new way profounded, which also fails of satisfaction. (2.) No account is yet given how the parts of matter are united. Some consideration on Descartes his hy pothesis, it fails of solution. (3.) The question is unanswerable, whether matter be compounded of divisibles, or indivisibles. ................................................................49 Chap. VII. Difficulties about the motion of a wheel, which admit of no solution.......53 Chap. IX. Men's backwardness to acknowledge their own ignorance and error, though ready to find them in others. The (i) cause of the shortness of our knowledge, viz. The depth of verity discoursed of, as of its admixtion in mens opinions with falsehood, and the connexion of truths, and their mutual dependence: a second reason of the shortness of our knowledge, viz. Because we can perceive nothing but by proportion to our senses.............................................................................................................55 Chap. X. A third reason of our ignorance and error, viz. The impostures and deceits of our senses. The way to rectify these misinformations propounded. Descartes his method the only way to science. The difficulty of exact performance. ......................57 Chap. XI. Two instances of sensitive decefition. (1) of the quiescence of the Earth. Sense is the great inducement to its belief; its testimony deserves no credit in this case, though it do move, sense would present it as immoveable. The sun to sense is as much devoid of motion as the Earth. The cases wherein motion is insensible, applied to the Earth's motion. The unwieldiness of its bulk is no argument of its immobility.59 Chap. XII. Another instance of the deceptions of our senses: which is of translating the idea of our passions to things without us. Properly and formally heat is not in the fire, but is an expression of our sentiment. Yet in propriety of speech the senses - 2 - JOSEPH GLANVILL themselves are never deceived, but only administer an occasion of deceit to the understanding: proved by reason, and the authority of St. Austin..............................62 Chap. XIII. A fourth reason of our ignorance and error, viz. The fallacy of our imaginations; an account of the nature of that faculty; instances of its deceptions; spirits are not in a place; intellection, volition, decrees, &c. cannot properly be ascribed to God. It is not reason that opposeth faith, but fancy: the interest which imagination hath in many of our opinions, in that it impresses a persuasion without evidence. ..................................................................................................................65 Chap. XIV. A fifth reason, the precipitancy of our understandings; the reason of it. The most close engagement of our minds requisite to the finding of truth; the difficulties of the performance of it. Two instances of our precipitating; as the concluding things impossible, which to nature are not so; and the joining causes with irrelative effects........................................................................................................68 Chap. XV. The sixth reason discoursed of, viz. the interest which our affections have in our dijudications. The cause why our affections mislead us: several branches of this mentioned; and the first, viz. constitutional inclination largely insisted on................71 Chap. XVI. A second thing whereby our affections in-gage us in error; is the prejudice of custom and education. A third, interest. The fourth, love to our own productions...............................................................................................................74 Chap. XVII. 5. Our affections are enaged by our reverence to antiquity and authority. This hath been a great hinderer of theorical improvements, and it hath been an advantage to the mathematics, and mechanic's arts, that it hath no place in them. Our mistake of antiquity. The unreasonableness of that kind of pedantic adoration. Hence the vanity of affecting impertinent quotations. The pedantry on't is derided; the little improvement of science through its successive derivations, end whence that hath happened..................................................................................................................77 Chap. XVIII. REFLECTIONS ON THE PERIPATETIC PHOLOSOPHY The generality of its reception, no argument of its deserts; the first charge against that philosophy; that it is merely verbal. Materia prima in that philisophy signifies nothing. A parallel drawn between it and imaginary space: this latter pleads more for its reality. Their form also is a mere word, and potentia Materiae insignificant. Privation no principle. An essay to detect Peripatetic verbosity, by translating some definitions. ...............................................................................................................80 Chap. XIX. 2. Peripatetic philosophy is litigious; it hath no setled constant signification of words; the inconveniences hereof. Aristotle intended the cherishing controversies; proved by his own double testimony. Some of his impertinent arguings instanced in. Disputes retard, and are injurious to knowledge. Peripatetics are most exercised in the controversal parts of philosophy, and know little of the practical and experimental. A touch at school-divinity. .................................................................84 Chap. XX. 3. It gives no account of the phenomena; those that are remoter, it attempts not. It speaks nothing pertinent in the most ordinary: its circular, and general way of solution. It resolves all things into occult qualities. The absurdity of the Aristotelian hypothesis of the heavens. The galaxy is no meteor: the heavens are corruptible. Comets are above the moon. The sphere of fire derided. Aristotle convicted of several other false assertions.................................................................87 Chap. XXII. (5.) The Aristotelian philosophy inconsistent with divinity; and (6.) With itself. The conclusion of the reflections............................................................92 Chap. XXIII. It's queried whether there be any science in the sense of the dogmatists: (1.) We cannot know anything to be the cause of another, but from its attending it; and this way is not infallible; declared by instances, especially from the philosophy of SCEPSIS SCIENTIFICA, OR THE VANITY OF DOGMATIZING Descartes. All things are mixed; and 'tis difficult to assign each cause its distinct effects. (2.) There's no demonstration but where the contrary is impossible. And we can scarce conclude so of any thing..........................................................................94 Chap. XXIV. Three instances of reputed impossibilities, which likely are not so, as (1.) Of the power of imagination. (2.) Secret conveyance. (3.) Sympathetic cures.....96 Chap. XXV. (3.) We cannot know anything in nature without knowing the first springs of natural motions; and these we are ignorant of. (4.) Causes are so connected that we cannot
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lyrical Ballads
    LYRICAL BALLADS Also available from Routledge: A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Second Edition Harry Blamires ELEVEN BRITISH POETS* An Anthology Edited by Michael Schmidt WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Selected Poetry and Prose Edited by Jennifer Breen SHELLEY Selected Poetry and Prose Edited by Alasdair Macrae * Not available from Routledge in the USA Lyrical Ballads WORDSWORTH AND COLERIDGE The text of the 1798 edition with the additional 1800 poems and the Prefaces edited with introduction, notes and appendices by R.L.BRETT and A.R.JONES LONDON and NEW YORK First published as a University Paperback 1968 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Second edition published 1991 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Introduction and Notes © 1963, 1991 R.L.Brett and A.R.Jones All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Wordsworth, William 1770–1850 Lyrical ballads: the text of the 1978 edition with the additional 1800 poems and the prefaces.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 MISS MORRIS and the STRANGER By
    MISS MORRIS AND THE STRANGER better eyelashes than mine. I write quite seriously. There is one woman who is above the common weakness of by Wilkie Collins vanity--and she holds the present pen. I. So I gave my lost stranger a lesson in politeness. The lesson took the form of a trap. I asked him if he would WHEN I first saw him, he was lost in one of the Dead like me to show him the way to the inn. He was still Cities of England--situated on the South Coast, and called annoyed at losing himself. As I had anticipated, he Sandwich. bluntly answered: "Yes." Shall I describe Sandwich? I think not. Let us own the "When you were a boy, and you wanted something," I truth; descriptions of places, however nicely they may be said, "did your mother teach you to say 'Please'?" written, are always more or less dull. Being a woman, I naturally hate dullness. Perhaps some description of He positively blushed. "She did," he admitted; "and she Sandwich may drop out, as it were, from my report of our taught me to say 'Beg your pardon' when I was rude. I'll conversation when we first met as strangers in the street. say it now: 'Beg your pardon.'" He began irritably. "I've lost myself," he said. This curious apology increased my belief in his redeeming qualities. I led the way to the inn. He followed "People who don't know the town often do that," I me in silence. No woman who respects herself can endure remarked.
    [Show full text]
  • The Physician and Witchcraft in Restoration England
    THE PHYSICIAN AND WITCHCRAFT IN RESTORATION ENGLAND by GARFIELD TOURNEY THE YEAR of 1660 witnessed important political and scientific developments in England. The restoration of the monarchy and the Church of England occurred with the return of Charles II after the dissolution of the Commonwealth and the Puritan influence. The Royal Society, after informal meetings for nearly fifteen years, was established as a scientific organization in 1660 and received its Royal Charter in 1662. During the English revolution, and for a short time during the Commonwealth, interest in witchcraft mounted. Between 1645 and 1646 Matthew Hopkins acquired the reputation as the most notorious witch-finder in the history of England.I His activities in Essex and the other eastern counties led to the execution of as many as 200 witches. In Suffolk it is estimated that he was responsible for arresting at least 124 persons for witchcraft, of whom 68 were hanged. The excesses soon led to a reaction and Hopkins lost his influence, and died shortly thereafter in 1646. There then was a continuing decline in witchcraft persecutions, and an increasing scepticism toward the phenomena of witchcraft was expressed. Scepticism was best exemplified in Thomas Hobbes' (1588-1679) Leviathan, published in 1651.2 Hobbes presented a materialistic philosophy, emphasizing change occurring in motion, the material nature of mental activity, the elimination of final causes, and the rejection of the reality of spirit. He decried the belief in witchcraft and the supematural, emphasizing
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Address
    Empowering Philosophy Christia Mercer COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Presidential Address delivered at the one hundred sixteenth Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Philadelphia, PA, on January 10, 2020. The main goal of my presidential address in January 2020 was to show that philosophy’s past offers a means to empower its present. I hoped to encourage colleagues to make the philosophy we teach and practice more inclusive (both textually and topically) and to adopt a more public- facing engagement with our discipline. As I add these introductory remarks to my January lecture, it is June 2020 and the need to empower philosophy has never seemed more urgent. We’ve witnessed both the tragic death of George Floyd and the popular uprising of a diverse group of Americans in response to the ongoing violence against Black lives. Many white Americans—and many philosophers—have begun to realize that their inattentiveness to matters of diversity and inclusivity must now be seen as more than mere negligence. Recent demonstrations frequently contain signs that make the point succinctly: “Silence is violence.” A central claim of my January lecture was that philosophy’s status quo is no longer tenable. Even before the pandemic slashed university budgets and staff, our employers were cutting philosophy programs, enrollments were shrinking, and jobs were increasingly hard to find. Despite energetic attempts on the part of many of our colleagues to promote a more inclusive approach to our research and teaching, the depressing truth remains:
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy, Religion, and Heterodoxy in the Philosophy of Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, and Anne Conway
    Church History Church History and and Religious Culture 100 (2020) 157–171 Religious Culture brill.com/chrc Philosophy, Religion, and Heterodoxy in the Philosophy of Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, and Anne Conway Sarah Hutton University of York, York, UK [email protected] Abstract Philosophers who hold the compatibility of reason and faith, are vulnerable to the charge of opening the way to atheism and heterodoxy. This danger was particularly acute when, in the wake of Cartesianism, the philosophy of Spinoza and Hobbes neces- sitated a resetting of the relationship of philosophy with religion. My paper discusses three English philosophers who illustrate the difficulties for the philosophical defence for religion: Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, and Anne Conway, for all of whom philo- sophical and religious truth were deeply intertwined. But each of them also subscribed to heterodox religious beliefs. This raises questions of whether there is a direct the rela- tionship between their philosophy and religious heterodoxy—whether they exemplify the charge that philosophy undermines religion, or indeed whether their defence of religion was a cover for heterodoxy. Keywords atheism – heterodoxy – Platonism – Descartes – More – Cudworth – Conway 1 Introduction Accusations of atheism occur relatively frequently in the philosophico-theo- logical polemics of the seventeenth century.1 This is particularly the case with 1 The term “atheism” itself had broader sense than it does today as a blanket term for irreligion © sarah hutton, 2020 | doi:10.1163/18712428-10002002 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0Downloaded license. from Brill.com10/01/2021 08:06:06PM via free access 158 hutton Hobbes and Spinoza, but Cartesianism was seen by many as leading to athe- ism.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek Cities & Islands of Asia Minor
    MASTER NEGATIVE NO. 93-81605- Y MICROFILMED 1 993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK / as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project'' Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United photocopies or States Code - concerns the making of other reproductions of copyrighted material. and Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries or other archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy the reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that for any photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used purpose other than private study, scholarship, or for, or later uses, a research." If a user makes a request photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair infringement. use," that user may be liable for copyright a This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept fulfillment of the order copy order if, in its judgement, would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: VAUX, WILLIAM SANDYS WRIGHT TITLE: GREEK CITIES ISLANDS OF ASIA MINOR PLACE: LONDON DA TE: 1877 ' Master Negative # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MTCROFORM TAR^FT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record m^m i» 884.7 !! V46 Vaux, V7aiion Sandys Wright, 1818-1885. ' Ancient history from the monuments. Greek cities I i and islands of Asia Minor, by W. S. W. Vaux... ' ,' London, Society for promoting Christian knowledce." ! 1877. 188. p. plate illus. 17 cm. ^iH2n KJ Restrictions on Use: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA i? FILM SIZE: 3 S'^y^/"^ REDUCTION IMAGE RATIO: J^/ PLACEMENT: lA UA) iB .
    [Show full text]
  • Henry More, Richard Baxter, and Francis Glisson's Trea Tise on the Energetic Na Ture of Substance
    Medical History, 1987, 31: 15-40. MEDICINE AND PNEUMATOLOGY: HENRY MORE, RICHARD BAXTER, AND FRANCIS GLISSON'S TREA TISE ON THE ENERGETIC NA TURE OF SUBSTANCE by JOHN HENRY* The nature of the soul and its relationship to the body has always proved problematical for Christian philosophy. The source ofthe difficulty can be traced back to the efforts of the early Fathers to reconcile the essentially pagan concept of an immaterial and immortal soul with apostolic teachings about the after-life in which all the emphasis is placed upon the resurrection of the body. The tensions between these two traditions inevitably became strained during the sixteenth century when Protestant reformers insisted on a closer adherence to Scripture. Furthermore, even when leaving the problems of Scriptural hermeneutics aside, the dualistic approach to the question, in which soul (or spirit) and body are held to be categorically different in essence, had to overcome a number of intractable philosophical problems. So, it was not simply coincidence that when the new mechanical philosophy began to be formulated in a systematic way in the seventeenth century, it was couched in vigorously dualistic terms. In fact, three of the earliest fully elaborated systems of mechanical philosophy, those of Descartes, Digby, and Charleton, were explicitly intended to provide a philosophical prop for dualist theology.' Moreover, it was because of its usefulness in promoting dualism that Cartesianism was first popularized in England not by a natural philosopher but by the Cambridge Platonist and theologian, Henry More.2 *John Henry, MPhil, PhD, Wellcome Institute for the History ofMedicine, 183 Euston Road, London NWI 2BP.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry More, Richard Baxter, and Francis Glisson's Trea Tise on the Energetic Na Ture of Substance
    Medical History, 1987, 31: 15-40. MEDICINE AND PNEUMATOLOGY: HENRY MORE, RICHARD BAXTER, AND FRANCIS GLISSON'S TREA TISE ON THE ENERGETIC NA TURE OF SUBSTANCE by JOHN HENRY* The nature of the soul and its relationship to the body has always proved problematical for Christian philosophy. The source ofthe difficulty can be traced back to the efforts of the early Fathers to reconcile the essentially pagan concept of an immaterial and immortal soul with apostolic teachings about the after-life in which all the emphasis is placed upon the resurrection of the body. The tensions between these two traditions inevitably became strained during the sixteenth century when Protestant reformers insisted on a closer adherence to Scripture. Furthermore, even when leaving the problems of Scriptural hermeneutics aside, the dualistic approach to the question, in which soul (or spirit) and body are held to be categorically different in essence, had to overcome a number of intractable philosophical problems. So, it was not simply coincidence that when the new mechanical philosophy began to be formulated in a systematic way in the seventeenth century, it was couched in vigorously dualistic terms. In fact, three of the earliest fully elaborated systems of mechanical philosophy, those of Descartes, Digby, and Charleton, were explicitly intended to provide a philosophical prop for dualist theology.' Moreover, it was because of its usefulness in promoting dualism that Cartesianism was first popularized in England not by a natural philosopher but by the Cambridge Platonist and theologian, Henry More.2 *John Henry, MPhil, PhD, Wellcome Institute for the History ofMedicine, 183 Euston Road, London NWI 2BP.
    [Show full text]
  • Samuel Baker the University of Texas at Austin [email protected]
    Samuel Baker The University of Texas at Austin [email protected] 5/13/2009 Scott’s Stoic Characters: Ethics, Sentiment, and Irony in The Antiquary, Guy Mannering, and “The Author of Waverley” Published in Modern Language Quarterly (2009) 70 (4): 443–471: Cite only from published version. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/10.1215/00267929-2009-011 Whomever one reads on the question, it seems that Walter Scott created “the classical form of the historical novel” by standing at a locus of contradiction. According to the most influential such accounts, Scott “portrayed objectively the ruination of past social formations, despite all his human sympathy for, and artistic sensitivity to, the splendid, heroic qualities which they contained”; he could accomplish such feats of mediation because he was “two men … both the prudent Briton and the passionate Scot."1 These accounts of Scott’s contradictory investments–by Georg Lukács and David Daiches, respectively–find an emblem in the title Virginia Woolf gave her essay on Scott's late-life journal. Referring to how Scott installed modern lighting at his pseudo- medieval estate, Woolf calls her piece “Gas at Abbotsford.”2 Such formulations became 1 Georg Lukács, The Historical Novel [1937], Hannah and Stanley Mitchell, tr. (Lincoln, Neb.: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1983), pp.54-55; David Daiches, “Scott’s Achievement as a Novelist” [1951], in Literary Essays (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1967), 92. 2 Virginia Woolf, “Gas at Abbotsford” [1940], in Collected Essays, 4 vols. (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1967), 1:128-138. touchstones for Scott criticism some decades ago.3 Many critics since have adopted the concept of a split Scott that, whatever their other differences, Lukács, Daiches, and Woolf share.
    [Show full text]
  • Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2010 Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection Jason Skirry University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Skirry, Jason, "Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 179. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/179 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/179 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection Abstract This dissertation presents a unified interpretation of Malebranche’s philosophical system that is based on his Augustinian theory of the mind’s perfection, which consists in maximizing the mind’s ability to successfully access, comprehend, and follow God’s Order through practices that purify and cognitively enhance the mind’s attention. I argue that the mind’s perfection figures centrally in Malebranche’s philosophy and is the main hub that connects and reconciles the three fundamental principles of his system, namely, his occasionalism, divine illumination, and freedom. To demonstrate this, I first present, in chapter one, Malebranche’s philosophy within the historical and intellectual context of his membership in the French Oratory, arguing that the Oratory’s particular brand of Augustinianism, initiated by Cardinal Bérulle and propagated by Oratorians such as Andre Martin, is at the core of his philosophy and informs his theory of perfection. Next, in chapter two, I explicate Augustine’s own theory of perfection in order to provide an outline, and a basis of comparison, for Malebranche’s own theory of perfection.
    [Show full text]
  • Commonplace Book of Elizabeth G
    Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/ Documents Online Title: Commonplace Book of Elizabeth G. Fergusson Date: 1770-1787 Location: MC 2006.3, B1, F1 Contact: Archives & Special Collections Waidner-Spahr Library Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 717-245-1399 [email protected] [Inside cover] the 13, 1787 Poems [three words erased and written over]written between the Years 1770 and 1787 [original writing underneath shows 1772 and 1777] at Graeme Park by Laura by Mrs Fergusson a few of them by Betsy Graeme but all Written at Graeme park [Full page pasted over top of inside front cover] [one word illegible] 98 Extract from [M Addison?] [top half of words covered] in praise of Poetry “ I have always been of opinion that Virtue Sinks deepest in the heart of man when it is recommended by the powerful Charms of poetry. The most active principle in our Mind is the imagination: To it a good Part makes his Court immediatly, and by this Fairly Takes Care to Gain it first, Our Passions And Inclinations come over next. And our Reason Surenders it Soly at pleasure in the End Thus the whole Souls is insensibly betrad into morality. There is a certain Elevation of Soul a Sedate imagining and a noble turn of virtue that raises the Hero from the plain honest man, To which Verse can only raise as the Bold Metaphors And Sounding members peculiar To the Parts, Rouse up all our Sleeping faculties And alarm all the power of the Soul like Virgils Exclent Tumpet [Page Break] Contents Ode to Spring; Ode to Summer; Ode to autumn.
    [Show full text]
  • Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: an Authoritative Edition
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 1-12-2005 Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition Paul Melvin Wise Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Wise, Paul Melvin, "Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2005. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COTTON MATHER’S WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD: AN AUTHORITATIVE EDITION by PAUL M. WISE Under the direction of Reiner Smolinski ABSTRACT In Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather applies both his views on witchcraft and his millennial calculations to events at Salem in 1692. Although this infamous treatise served as the official chronicle and apologia of the 1692 witch trials, and excerpts from Wonders of the Invisible World are widely anthologized, no annotated critical edition of the entire work has appeared since the nineteenth century. This present edition seeks to remedy this lacuna in modern scholarship, presenting Mather’s seventeenth-century text next to an integrated theory of the natural causes of the Salem witch panic. The likely causes of Salem’s bewitchment, viewed alongside Mather’s implausible explanations, expose his disingenuousness in writing about Salem. Chapter one of my introduction posits the probability that a group of conspirators, led by the Rev.
    [Show full text]