Book contents
- The Necessity of Nature
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
- The Necessity of Nature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Science
- 2 Hobbes’s Doctrine of Necessity
- 3 Necessities, Natural Rights and Sovereignty in Leviathan
- 4 Reformers on the Necessary Knowledge
- 5 Necessity, Free Will and Conscience
- 6 The Grand Business of Nature
- 7 Robert Boyle, the Empire over Nature
- 8 Locke’s Early Writings
- 9 Medicine, Oeconomy and Needs
- 10 Money and the Doctrine of Necessities
- 11 The Scientification of Money
- 12 The Doctrine of Necessities and the (Public) Good
- Conclusions
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
4 - Reformers on the Necessary Knowledge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2023
- The Necessity of Nature
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
- The Necessity of Nature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Science
- 2 Hobbes’s Doctrine of Necessity
- 3 Necessities, Natural Rights and Sovereignty in Leviathan
- 4 Reformers on the Necessary Knowledge
- 5 Necessity, Free Will and Conscience
- 6 The Grand Business of Nature
- 7 Robert Boyle, the Empire over Nature
- 8 Locke’s Early Writings
- 9 Medicine, Oeconomy and Needs
- 10 Money and the Doctrine of Necessities
- 11 The Scientification of Money
- 12 The Doctrine of Necessities and the (Public) Good
- Conclusions
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Summary
Chapter 4 discusses the circle that formed around the intelligencer Samuel Hartlib (1600–1662). Its overarching argument is that utilitarian science offered guidance in finding the simplicity of the unum necessarium (Luke 10:42), a common theme exalted by contemporary Millenarianism of the Protestant cause. In practical terms, knowledge about necessities became the means to achieving that goal of faith. The scepticism of the period and its obvious corrupting effects on morality and devotion led to inventiveness in pursuit of substitutes for the classical moral principle of the light of reason. The Reformers worked towards a political and theological project of a utilitarian science as a means by which to reach God and reproduce Paradise on earth. Scientific knowledge about trade became central and was expressed, significantly, in the momentous Navigation Acts of 1651.
Keywords
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- The Necessity of NatureGod, Science and Money in 17th Century English Law of Nature, pp. 105 - 135Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023