Henry More on Space
Résumé
Henry More defended the thesis that spirits are extended, and that God's infinite immaterial extension was identical with space. According to More, we exist locally in portions of God's omnipresent extension. In this paper I examine a set of claims recently made by Jasper Reid about the early development of this doctrine. Reid maintains that More gradually evolved to this position from around about the middle of the 1650s, and the doctrine of divine absolute extension was not present as early as his letter correspondence with Descartes (1648-50). I suggest that the evidence from the More-Descartes letters probably points to a messier picture: More is at least ambivalent in the letters about whether God's extension was essential or derivative, and (in a properly qualified sense) he was probably already identifying God and space. I also argue that the letters give us some insight into some of the internal reasons pushing More towards the development of the abovementioned doctrine.
Domaines
Philosophie
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