Joseph Priestley on metaphysics and politics: Jonathan Israel's 'Radical Enlightenment' reconsidered. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Joseph Priestley on metaphysics and politics: Jonathan Israel's 'Radical Enlightenment' reconsidered. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)
- Main Title:
- Joseph Priestley on metaphysics and politics: Jonathan Israel's 'Radical Enlightenment' reconsidered
- Authors:
- Sakkas, Evangelos
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: This article probes Jonathan Israel's theory about 'Radical Enlightenment' inaugurating political modernity by way of explicating the thought of Joseph Priestley. In Israel's view, despite the inconsistencies plaguing Socinian thought, Priestley, a monist, emerged as an ardent supporter of religious toleration and democratic republicanism. This article seeks to restore the fundamental coherence of Priestley's theological and metaphysical views, arguing that they were produced as parts of a system founded on the simultaneous adherence to providentialism and necessitarianism. Prized as a prerequisite of the unfolding of the divine plan, the unobstructed expression of religious opinions was the centre of the conception of civil society and civil liberty that Priestley articulated based on these premises and his forays into politics aimed to secure its permanence. A comparison of Priestley's stance on the issue of manhood suffrage with that of Richard Price reveals not the materialist Priestley, but Price, a dualist, as an advocate of democratization and casts into doubt the applicability of Israel's scheme in the case of England. The article closes with some suggestions towards reappraising the relationship between Enlightenment and modernity.
- Is Part Of:
- History of European ideas. Volume 45:Issue 1(2019)
- Journal:
- History of European ideas
- Issue:
- Volume 45:Issue 1(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 45, Issue 1 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 45
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0045-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 104
- Page End:
- 116
- Publication Date:
- 2019-01-02
- Subjects:
- Joseph Priestley -- Radical Enlightenment -- manhood suffrage -- Richard Price -- civil liberty
Europe -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals
Europe -- History -- Periodicals
190.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhei20/current ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/01916599.2018.1491880 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0191-6599
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4318.138000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 10675.xml