1st Edition
The Intellectual Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (Routledge Revivals)
Intellectual history and early modern history have always occupied an important place in Past and Present. First published in 1974, this volume is a collection of original articles and debates, published in the journal between 1953 and May 1973, dealing with many aspects of the intellectual history of the seventeenth century. Several of the contributions have been extremely influential, and the debates represent major standpoints in controversies over genesis of modern ideas.
Although England is the focus of attention for most of the contributors, their themes have wider significance. Among the topics covered in the collection are the political thought of the Levellers and of James Harrington; radical social movements of the Puritan Revolution; the ideological context of physiological theories associated with William Harvey; the relationship between science and religion and the social relations of science; and the function of millenariansim and eschatology in the seventeenth century. The editor’s Introduction indicates the context in which the articles were composed and provides valuable bibliographical information about the subjects discussed.
1. Introduction (Charles Website, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford) 2. Harrington’s ‘Opportunity State’ (C. B. Macpherson, University of Toronto) 3. Harrington, a Realist? (John F. H. New, University of Waterloo) 4. Harrington as Realist: A Rejoinder (C. B. Macpherson, University of Toronto) 5. The Meaning of Harrington’s Agrarian (John F. H. New, University of Waterloo) 6. The Levellers and the Democracy (J.C. Davis, Victoria University of Wellington) 7. Reconsidering the Levellers: The Evidence of the ‘Moderate’ (Roger Howell Jr, Bowdoin College, Brunswick and David E. Brewster, Falls Church, Virginia) 8. Gentlemen Levellers (G.E. Aylmer, University of York) 9. ‘Englands Spirit Unfolded, or an Incouragement to Take the Engagement’: A Newly Discovered Pamphlet by Gerrard Winstanley (E. Aylmer, University of York) 10. Another Digger Broadside (Keith Thomas, St John’s College, Oxford) 11. The Date of Gerrard Winstanley’s ‘Fire in the Bush’ (Keith Thomas, St John’s College, Oxford) 12. The ‘Civil Polity’ of Peter Paxton (J. A. Gunn, Queen’s University, Kingston) 13. William Harvey and the Idea of Monarchy (Christopher Hill, Balliol College, Oxford) 14. William Harvey: A Royalist and No Parliamentarian (Gweneth Whitteridge, Oxford) 15. William Harvey (No Parliamentarian, No Heretic) and the Idea of Monarchy (Christopher Hill, Balliol College, Oxford) 16. Science and Religion in the Seventeenth-Century England (S. F. Mason, King’s College, London) 17. Puritanism, Capitalism and the Scientific Revolution (H. F. Kearney, University of Edinburgh) 18. Puritanism, Capitalism and the Scientific Revolution (Christopher Hill, Balliol College, Oxford) 19. Puritanism and Science: Problems of Definition (H. F. Kearney, University of Edinburgh) 20. Religion and the Rise of Modern Science (Theodore K. Rabb, Princeton University) 21. Science, Religion and Society in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Christopher Hill, Balliol College, Oxford) 22. Science, Religion and Society in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Theodore K. Rabb, Princeton University) 23. Latitudinarianism and Science in Seventeenth-Century England (Barbara J. Shapiro, Wheaton College, Norton Mass.) 24. Civil War Politics, Religion and the Royal Society (Lotte Mulligan, La Trobe University, Victoria) 25. The Decline and Fall of Restoration Science (Margaret ’Espinasse, Hull) 26. The Authorship and Significance of ‘Macaria’ Charles Website, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford) 27. ‘Godly rule’ and English Millenarianism (Bernard Capp, University of Warwick) 28. Richard Baxter, the Apocalypse and the Mad Major (William Lamont, University of Sussex) 29. The Millennium and Eschatology in England (Bernard Capp, University of Warwick)
Biography
Charles Webster
