Samuel Clarke 1675 – 1729
Samuel Clarke was an English Anglican clergyman and philosopher of religion, a close associate of Newton and the foremost rationalist theologian of his age. His Boyle Lectures of 1704 and 1705, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God and A Discourse concerning the Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion, set out a celebrated cosmological argument for a self-existent first cause and a strictly rationalist account of moral obligation. His correspondence with Leibniz on space, time, and the nature of God remains one of the most important philosophical exchanges of the early modern period. His subordinationist views on the Trinity drew ecclesiastical censure but did not end his career.
Key facts
- Nationality
- English
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Rationalism, Early Modern
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Samuel Clarke:
“Whatever exists must have a cause or a ground for existing.”
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Attributed to Samuel Clarke:
“There is necessarily an eternal and self-existent being.”
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Attributed to Samuel Clarke:
“Right and wrong are founded in the eternal nature of things.”
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Attributed to Samuel Clarke:
“Liberty is the power of self-determination of action.”
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Attributed to Samuel Clarke:
“Moral truths are as eternal and necessary as those of mathematics.”