Joseph Glanvill 1636 – 1680
Joseph Glanvill was an English clergyman, philosopher, and an early Fellow of the Royal Society. After studies at Oxford he served as a country parson in Somerset and as chaplain to Charles II, while producing a long series of philosophical and apologetic works in defense of the new natural philosophy of Boyle and his circle. His Vanity of Dogmatizing developed a moderate skepticism intended to humble the pretensions of scholastic learning and to make room for cautious experimental inquiry, while his Saducismus Triumphatus, posthumously expanded by Henry More, defended belief in witches and spirits as continuous with the new philosophy of nature.
Key facts
- Nationality
- English
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Empiricism, Early Modern
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Joseph Glanvill:
“We dogmatize in proportion to our ignorance.”
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Attributed to Joseph Glanvill:
“Knowledge is much advanced by the comparison of opinions.”
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Attributed to Joseph Glanvill:
“The new philosophy frees us from the tyranny of authority.”
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Attributed to Joseph Glanvill:
“What we call certainty is rarely more than the absence of doubt.”
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Attributed to Joseph Glanvill:
“Inquiry is the proper duty of every rational soul.”