Catharine Trotter Cockburn 1679 – 1749
Catharine Trotter Cockburn was an English moral philosopher, essayist, and dramatist and one of the most accomplished women philosophers of the early eighteenth century. After early success as a dramatist in London, she turned increasingly to philosophical writing and produced her Defence of Mr. Locke's Essay of Human Understanding in 1702, engaged with the moral philosophy of Samuel Clarke and Francis Hutcheson, and exchanged letters with Leibniz on philosophical theology. Her Remarks upon the Principles and Reasonings of Dr. Rutherforth's Essay on Virtue defended a rationalist account of moral truth grounded in the fitness of things.
Key facts
- Nationality
- English
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Empiricism, Early Modern
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn:
“Reason is the criterion that distinguishes virtue from vice.”
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Attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn:
“The fitness of things is the foundation of moral truth.”
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Attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn:
“Mr. Locke deserves a defense, however little he asked for one.”
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Attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn:
“A woman's understanding is no weaker than a man's where both are cultivated alike.”
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Attributed to Catharine Trotter Cockburn:
“Conscience is the inner court before which we are always tried.”