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Biography of Samuel ClarkeName: Samuel ClarkeBirth Date: October 11, 1675 Death Date: May 17, 1729 Place of Birth: Norwich, England Nationality: English Gender: Male Occupations: theologian, philosopher Samuel Clarke The English theologian and moral philosopher Samuel Clarke (1675-1729) was in his time the foremost exponent of rationalist ethics and a prominent defender of Newtonian physics.Samuel Clarke was born on Oct. 11, 1675, in Norwich, where his father was alderman and at one time representative in Parliament. He entered Cambridge University at 16. There he discovered Sir Isaac Newton's Principia mathematica and resolved to advance Newton's theories against those of René Descartes, which were then dominant. His translation of Jacques Rohault's popular physics textbook, with notes and comments reflecting Newton's ideas, was used at Cambridge for several decades.Clarke's ecclesiastical career began as vicar to the bishop of Norwich. In 1704 and 1705 he gave the Boyle Lectures; these were published as A Demonstration of the Being and the Attributes of God (1705-1706) and The Verity and Certitude of Natural and Revealed Religion (1705). They are his chief contributions to philosophy and theology, along with Discourse …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…of others." He also argued against materialism and atheism and for free will and the immortality and spirituality of the soul. Further Reading The Works of Samuel Clarke (4 vols., 1738-1742) was edited, with a biographical preface, by Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Salisbury. A modern edition of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence was prepared by H. G. Alexander, The Leibniz-Clark Correspondence, together with Extracts from Newton's Principia and Opticks (1956). William Whiston, Historical Memoirs of the Life of Dr. S. Clarke (3d ed. 1748), includes A. A. Sykes's "Elogium" and Thomas Emlyn's "Memoirs of the Life and Sentiments of Dr. Clarke." For Clarke's ethical theory see James Edward LeRossignol, Ethical Philosophy of Samuel Clarke (1892). Background studies which discuss Clarke include W. R. Sorley, A History of English Philosophy (1920); Gerald R. Cragg, Reason and Authority in the Eighteenth Century (1964); and Charles Vereker, Eighteenth-Century Optimism (1967).Ferguson, James P., Dr. Samuel Clarke: an eighteenth century heretic, Kineton: Roundwood Press, 1976. |