Article ID: CBB006782432

Unitarian Materialism. Christoph Stegmann, Joseph Priestley, and Their Concepts of Matter and Soul (2020)

unapi

This paper describes the affinities between Socinian and Unitarian materialism. Based on different philosophical traditions, the Socinian Christoph Stegmann and the Unitarian Joseph Priestley developed a strong “system of materialism” which fit very well with Christian doctrines and the Bible. The conviction that the whole man is material and therefore mortal became the common basis for these radical thinkers. Stegmann formulated within the Aristotelian tradition a “non-reductive” materialism in which matter, not form, became the fundamental principle of all living things. Priestley, on the other hand, created his “absolute” materialism by developing a new understanding of the concept of matter according to the philosophical rules of Isaac Newton. The paper will discuss the affinities and differences between these two different concepts of materialism. The idea of a thinking matter, most prominently formulated by John Locke, will serve as a link between them.

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Authors & Contributors
Wunderlich, Falk
Wolfe, Charles T.
Rumore, Paola
Leask, Ian
Omero Proietti
Schliesser, Erick
Concepts
Materialism
Philosophy and religion
Soul (philosophy)
Psychology
Science and religion
Newtonianism
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
Enlightenment
Early modern
Renaissance
Places
Germany
England
Europe
Great Britain
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