William Wollaston
| William Wollaston | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 March 1659 Coton-Clanford, Staffordshire |
| Died | 29 October 1724 (aged 65) London |
| Era | 18th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | enlightenment philosophy, rationalism |
|
Main interests
|
Ethics, religion |
|
Notable ideas
|
Religion derived from adherence to truth |
|
Influenced
|
|
William Wollaston (/ˈwʊləstən/; 26 March 1659 – 29 October 1724) was school teacher, a Church of England priest, a scholar of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, a theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, which he completed only two years before his death: The Religion of Nature Delineated. Yet despite his cloistered life and his single book, due to his influence on eighteenth-century philosophy and his promotion of a Natural Religion, he may be considered one of the great British Enlightenment philosophers, along with Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. His work contributed to the development of two important intellectual schools: British Deism, and "the pursuit of happiness" moral philosophy of American Practical Idealism, which appears notably in the United States Declaration of Independence.
Wollaston was born at Coton Clanford in Staffordshire, on 26 March 1659. He was born to a family long-established in Staffordshire, and was distantly related to Sir John Wollaston, the Alderman and Lord Mayor of London. However, his family was not wealthy. At the age of ten, he began school at a Latin school newly opened in Shenstone, Staffordshire, and continued in country free schools until he was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, at the age of 15, in June 1674. From his writings it is clear that he was an excellent scholar, "extremely well versed" in languages and literature.
...
Wikipedia