Insa Kringler

In the course of my project I shall inquire, how and in which forms the texts and thoughts of the Cambridge Platonists were taken up by thinkers in the 18th century. My thesis is that the Cambridge Platonists rationalized theology, on the one hand by reducing religion to ethics, and on the other hand by stressing a neo-platonic idea of reason. Because they drew on intellectual traditions with esoteric and hermetic elements, their influential work integrated these elements into the discourses of the 17th century. Examples of such traditions include Egyptian arcane theology, the Pythagorean and neo-platonic metaphysics and the 'Corpus Hermeticum'. Although these lines of thought were handed down in the 18th century through the reception of the Cambridge Platonists, their effect and function in the process of enlightenment has not yet been explored. Special attention shall be given to the debate on plastic nature which arose between Leclerc, Bayle, Lady Masham and Leibniz following Cudworth and More. This debate touches on the controversy over Spinoza's pantheism as well as on the questions concerning the relationship of spirit and matter raised by Descartes. Two additional and equally important lines of reception are marked by Mosheim's translation of Cudworth's 'True Intellectual System of the Universe' into Latin and by Shaftesbury's edition of Whichcote's 'Select Sermons'. These are connected in interesting ways with the set of questions outlined above and therefore cannot be explored separately. In sum, the reception of the Cambridge Platonists had a significant influence on the progress of discourses in the early enlightenment and is a reflection of the changes which took place in the relationship between theology, philosophy and natural science.