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person1676-1729

Anthony Collins

Disciplines:
epistemology
theology/philosophy of religion

Summary

British deist and freethinker who argued for the necessity of free inquiry in matters of religion and denied libertarian free will.

Core Contribution

A Discourse of Free-Thinking: established free inquiry as an intellectual duty in religion. Necessitarianism: human actions are causally determined — developed a compatibilist defense of moral responsibility against libertarian free will.

Notable Works & Achievements

An Essay Concerning the Use of Reason

A Discourse of Free-Thinking

A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty

Historical Influences

John Locke John Toland

Intellectual Lineage

English Deism Lockean Epistemology

Contemporaries & Peers

John Toland Samuel Clarke Gottfried Leibniz

Minds Influenced

Voltaire David Hume

Intellectual Posterity

Freethought Determinism

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Anthony Collins

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