Rousseau, Clarke, Butler and critiques of Deism

Attfield, Robin 2004. Rousseau, Clarke, Butler and critiques of Deism. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 12 (3) , pp. 429-443. 10.1080/0960878042000253097

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Abstract

Rousseau’s stance on natural religion, revealed religion and their relation are outlined (section 1), and then his agreements and disagreements with Samuel Clarke (section 2). After a survey of Joseph Butler's critique of deism (section 3), Rousseau’s arguments emerge as capable of supplying a counter-critique sufficient to show that deism could claim to have survived the eighteenth-century undefeated (section 4). If the attempted refutation of theistic arguments on the parts of David Hume and of Immanuel Kant was inconclusive (section 5), then the survival of deism up to the present turns out to represent a serious metaphysical option (section 6).

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy Sustainable Places Research Institute (PLACES)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	General philosophy, history of philosophy, Early Modern philosophy, natural theology, natural religion, revealed religion, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, cosmological argument, Samuel Clarke, Émile, vicaire savoyard, deism, Joseph Butler, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, critiques of theism
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	0960-8788
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 19:17
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/48966

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