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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Philosophy

This series contains both philosophical texts and critical essays about philosophy, concentrating especially on works originally published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It covers a broad range of topics including ethics, logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, utilitarianism, positivism, scientific method and political thought. It also includes biographies and accounts of the history of philosophy, as well as collections of papers by leading figures. In addition to this series, primary texts by ancient philosophers and works with particular relevance to philosophy of science, politics or theology may be found elsewhere in the Cambridge Library Collection.

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108 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Philosophy

Page 6 of 6

Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man
  • Thomas Reid
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1785
  • Thomas Reid (1710–1796) was a philosopher who founded the Scottish school of 'common sense'. Much of Reid's work is a critique of his contemporary, David Hume (1711–1776), whose empiricism he rejects. In this work, written after Reid's appointment to a professorship at the university of Glasgow, and published in 1785, he turns his attention to ideas about perception, memory, conception, abstraction, judgement, reasoning and taste. He examines the work of his predecessors and contemporaries, arguing that 'when we find philosophers maintaining that there is no heat in the fire, nor colour in the rainbow … we may be apt to think the whole to be only a dream of fanciful men, who have entangled themselves in cobwebs spun out of their own brain'. Written by one of the Scottish Enlightenment's most important thinkers, this work brings to life the intellectual debates of the time.

History of the Inductive Sciences
  • From the Earliest to the Present Times
  • Volume 2
  • William Whewell
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    09 September 2010
    First published in:
    1837
  • A central figure in Victorian science, William Whewell (1794–1866) held professorships in Mineralogy and Moral Philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, before becoming Master of the college in 1841. His mathematical textbooks, such as A Treatise on Dynamics (1823), were instrumental in bringing French analytical methods into British science. This three-volume history, first published in 1837, is one of Whewell's most famous works. Taking the 'acute, but fruitless, essays of Greek philosophy' as a starting point, it provides a history of the physical sciences that culminates with the mechanics, astronomy, and chemistry of 'modern times'. Volume 2 focuses on the rise and development of modern mechanics in the seventeenth century. Whewell shows how Galileo's laws of motion exemplify a paradigmatic shift from 'formal' to 'physical' sciences - a new approach concerned with explaining causes rather than merely observing phenomena. It also discusses the implications for physical astronomy of Newton's discoveries.

History of the Inductive Sciences
  • From the Earliest to the Present Times
  • Volume 3
  • William Whewell
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    09 September 2010
    First published in:
    1837
  • A central figure in Victorian science, William Whewell (1794–1866) held professorships in Mineralogy and Moral Philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, before becoming Master of the college in 1841. His mathematical textbooks, such as A Treatise on Dynamics (1823), were instrumental in bringing French analytical methods into British science. This three-volume history, first published in 1837, is one of Whewell's most famous works. Taking the 'acute, but fruitless, essays of Greek philosophy' as a starting point, it provides a history of the physical sciences that culminates with the mechanics, astronomy, and chemistry of 'modern times'. Volume 3 first covers the mechanico-chemical sciences, emphasizing the convergence of mechanical and chemical theories in discoveries pertaining to electricity, magnetism and thermodynamics. A section on chemistry surveys Becher and Stahl's phlogiston theory, Lavoisier's theory of oxygen, and Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction. The volume also covers mineralogy, botany, zoology, and anatomy.

An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent
  • John Henry Newman
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    18 November 2010
    First published in:
    1870
  • John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was a theologian and vicar at the university church in Oxford who became a leading thinker in the Oxford Movement, which sought to return Anglicanism to its Catholic roots. Newman converted to Catholicism in 1845 and became a cardinal in 1879. He published widely during his lifetime; his work included novels, poetry and the famous hymn 'Lead, Kindly Light', but he is most esteemed for his sermons and works of religious thought. This volume, first published in 1870, is an ambitious examination of the logical processes that underpin religious faith. Newman discusses how it is possible to believe what cannot be proven empirically, and postulates that the mind has the facility to bridge the logic gap to allow for humans to believe in things that they do not fully comprehend. A lucid and masterful work which remains relevant to contemporary discussions of faith.

Letter Addressed to the Abbé Raynal on the Affairs of North-America
  • In Which the Mistakes in the Abbé's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up
  • Thomas Paine
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1782
  • First published in 1782, this response to Raynal's The Revolution of America (also reissued in this series) by Thomas Paine (1737–1809) has been eclipsed by Paine's other work and largely overlooked. Written a year after Raynal's account of the American Revolution appeared in English, Paine's 'corrections' run to nearly eighty pages. His main critique of Raynal is that his argument stresses political theory rather than actions in the real world, an approach that lacks practicality. Paine argues against Raynal's assertion that the American War of Independence erupted over a tax dispute, and downplays France's involvement in the movement for independence. However, while attacking Raynal's influential work, he does so diplomatically, believing that the Abbé was writing from too great a distance to assess accurately the causes and principles of the conflict. This book has been hailed by scholars as the first of Paine's publications to demonstrate his internationalist views.

An Essay on Intuitive Morals
  • Being an Attempt to Popularize Ethical Science
  • Volume 1, Theory of Morals
  • Frances Power Cobbe
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    16 September 2010
    First published in:
    1855
  • Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904) was an Irish writer, social reformer and activist best known for her contributions to Victorian feminism and women's suffrage. After the death of her father in 1857, Cobbe travelled extensively across Europe before becoming a leader-writer addressing public issues for the London newspaper The Echo in 1868. She continued to publish on the topics of feminism, social problems and theology for the rest of her life. These volumes, first published anonymously in 1855, introduced Cobbe's theistic religious beliefs, which blend a belief in Divinity with Immanuel Kant's idea of freedom of will, in which a person's moral imperative is independent of outside authority and provides proof of the existence of God. Cobbe discusses Kant's moral philosophy, explaining the religious beliefs which formed the basis for her later discussions of Christianity. Volume 1 contains her ideas on the origin of morality.

An Essay on Intuitive Morals
  • Being an Attempt to Popularize Ethical Science
  • Volume 2, Practice of Morals
  • Frances Power Cobbe
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    16 September 2010
    First published in:
    1857
  • Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904) was an Irish writer, social reformer and activist best known for her contributions to Victorian feminism and women's suffrage. After the death of her father in 1857, Cobbe travelled extensively across Europe before becoming a leader-writer addressing public issues for the London newspaper The Echo in 1868. She continued to publish on the topics of feminism, social problems and theology for the rest of her life. These volumes, first published anonymously in 1855, introduced Cobbe's theistic religious beliefs, which blend a belief in Divinity with Immanuel Kant's idea of freedom of will, in which a person's moral imperative is independent of outside authority and provides proof of the existence of God. Cobbe discusses Kant's moral philosophy, explaining the religious beliefs which formed the basis for her later discussions of Christianity. Volume 2 contains her ides on religious and moral duty.

Physics and Politics
  • Or Thoughts on the Application of the Principles of Natural Selection and Inheritance to Political Society
  • Walter Bagehot
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1873
  • Walter Bagehot (1826–1877) was an eminent British journalist, businessman and political commentator. After graduating from University College, London, in 1848, Bagehot joined his father's banking business. In 1857 he began to write articles for The Economist and became editor in 1861, a position he held until his death. This volume, first published in 1872, contains Bagehot's discussion of the scientific principles of progress in a society. Incorporating aspects of other social disciplines, including anthropology and Darwinian evolutionary theory, Bagehot traces the development of political society from an assumed 'pre-political' age to the development of nation-states, and examines the developments necessary for evolution into a liberal, trade-oriented society. Bagehot's appreciation of both conservative and liberal values is evident in this volume, which provides a valuable example of the influence of Darwinian thought in the late nineteenth century. This text is reissued from the 1873 second edition.

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