Book contents
- Participation in the Divine
- Cambridge Studies in Religion and Platonism
- Participation in the Divine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lord Is One
- 2 The Place and Scope of Participation in the Divine in the Thought of Plato
- 3 Origen on Participation
- 4 Forms, Intellects, and Angels
- 5 Participation in the Divine in Gregory of Nyssa
- 6 Augustine’s “Illumination” Theory as the Natural Participation of the Human Mind
- 7 The Principle of Cosmic Unification in the Athenian School of Platonism
- 8 St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation
- 9 Participation in Medieval Platonism
- 10 Participation as God’s Indwelling
- 11 Some Late Medieval Discussions of Participation in the Divine
- 12 Music, Temperance, and Participation in Marsilio Ficino
- 13 Richard Hooker’s Metaphysics of Divine Participation
- 14 The Transcendence of Holiness
- 15 Ralph Cudworth on Causality and Substantial Forms
- 16 The Romantic Legacy
- 17 Participation Revived and Revised
- Index
- References
15 - Ralph Cudworth on Causality and Substantial Forms
Towards a New Theory of Causation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2024
By
Book contents
- Participation in the Divine
- Cambridge Studies in Religion and Platonism
- Participation in the Divine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lord Is One
- 2 The Place and Scope of Participation in the Divine in the Thought of Plato
- 3 Origen on Participation
- 4 Forms, Intellects, and Angels
- 5 Participation in the Divine in Gregory of Nyssa
- 6 Augustine’s “Illumination” Theory as the Natural Participation of the Human Mind
- 7 The Principle of Cosmic Unification in the Athenian School of Platonism
- 8 St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation
- 9 Participation in Medieval Platonism
- 10 Participation as God’s Indwelling
- 11 Some Late Medieval Discussions of Participation in the Divine
- 12 Music, Temperance, and Participation in Marsilio Ficino
- 13 Richard Hooker’s Metaphysics of Divine Participation
- 14 The Transcendence of Holiness
- 15 Ralph Cudworth on Causality and Substantial Forms
- 16 The Romantic Legacy
- 17 Participation Revived and Revised
- Index
- References
Summary
Matter, according to Ralph Cudworth (1618–1688), is passive and has no inner active principle. Since things cannot be either moved fortuitously or by chance, nor be moved directly by God himself, and thus depend for their movement wholly on God, Cudworth posits a ‘Plastick Nature’ under God, which as a subordinate instrument, does ‘Drudgingly Execute that Part of his Providence, which consists in the Regular and Orderly Motion of Matter’ (Cudworth 1678, 150).
For Cudworth, the laws of nature concerning motion are thus nothing else but this plastic nature, ‘acting upon the Matter of the whole Corporeal Universe, both Maintaining the Same Quantity of Motion always in it, and also Dispensing it (by Transferring it out of one Body into another) according to such Laws, Fatally Imprest upon it’ (Cudworth 1678, 150).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Participation in the DivineA Philosophical History, From Antiquity to the Modern Era, pp. 328 - 342Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
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