Robert Boyle and the limits of reason /
Robert Boyle & the Limits of Reason
Jan W. Wojcik.
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- 1 online resource (xvi, 243 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Things above Reason: Medieval Context and Concepts. Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria. Thomas Aquinas. Double-truth and the Law of Noncontradiction. Lorenzo Valla. Two Approaches Summarized. Anglicans and Puritans -- The Threat of Socinianism. The Protestant Background. Early Socinianism. The "Englishing" of Socnianism. Boyle's Response to Socinianism (c. 1652). Other Responses to Socinianism. Conclusions -- Predestination Controversies. Arminians versus Calvinists. Doctrinal Issues. Boyle's Seraphic Love. Howe's Reconcileableness and Hammond's Pacifick Discourse -- Theology and the Limits of Reason. Style of the Scriptures. Reconcileableness of Reason and Religion. Things above Reason. The Charge of Enthusiasm and Advices. 1. 2. 3. 4.
In this study of Robert Boyle's epistemology, Jan W. Wojcik reveals the theological context within which Boyle developed his views on reason's limits. After arguing that a correct interpretation of his views on 'things above reason' depends upon reading his works in the context of theological controversies in seventeenth-century England, Professor Wojcik details exactly how Boyle's three specific categories of things which transcend reason - the incomprehensible, the inexplicable, and the unsociable - affected his conception of what a natural philosopher could hope to know. Also covered in detail is Boyle's belief that God had deliberately limited the human intellect in order to reserve a full knowledge of both theology and natural philosophy for the afterlife.
9780511573002 (ebook)
Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
Reason--History--17th century. Natural theology--History of doctrines--17th century. Philosophical theology--History--17th century. Theological anthropology--Christianity--History of doctrines--17th century.