CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS

Cambridge Platonists: translation

A small group of mid17th century thinkers centred on Cambridge, whose members included Cudworth, Henry More, and Whichcote . The problems they addressed included the rise of low-church ‘enthusiasm’, the increasing influence of the Godless system of Hobbes, and the decreasing prestige of Aristotelian logic and science. The solution was an increased reliance on themes from Plato, including a general sympathy with mysticism and especially a belief that ethics rests upon absolute standards of right and wrong, discernible by human reason and independent of divine revelation. 54