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Book ID: CBB558770454

The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish (2017)

Boyle, Deborah A. (Author)

Oxford University Press
Publication date: 2017
Language: English

ISBN: 9780190234805

Publication Date: 2017
Physical Details: 288 pp.

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Philosophy Political science Order (philosophy); organization Panpsychism Science and literature Matter theory Free will and determinism Natural philosophy 17th century Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle

The prolific Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) published books on natural philosophy as well as stories, plays, poems, orations, allegories, and letters. Her mature philosophical system offered a unique panpsychist theory of Nature as composed of a continuous, non-atomistic, perceiving, knowing matter. In contrast to the dominant philosophical thinking of her day, Cavendish argued that all matter has free will and can choose whether or not to follow Nature's rules. The Well-Ordered Universe explores the development of Cavendish's natural philosophy from the atomism of her 1653 poems to the panpsychist materialism of her 1668 Grounds of Natural Philosophy. Deborah Boyle argues that her natural philosophy, her medical theories, and her social and political philosophy are all informed by an underlying concern with order, regularity, and rule-following. This focus on order reveals interesting connections among apparently disparate elements of Cavendish's philosophical program, including her views on gender, on animals and the environment, and on sickness and health. Focusing on the role of order in Cavendish's philosophy also helps reveal key differences between her natural philosophy and her more conservative social and political philosophy. Cavendish believed that humans' special desire for public recognition often leads to an unruly ambition, causing humans to disrupt society in ways not seen in the rest of Nature. Thus, The Well-Ordered Universe defends Cavendish as a royalist who endorsed absolute monarchy and a rigid social hierarchy for maintaining order in human society.

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Reviewed By

Review Jonathan Shaheen (2019) Review of "The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish". Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology (pp. 340-346). unapi

Review Edith Dudley Sylla (2019) Review of "The Well-Ordered Universe: The Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 164-165). unapi

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