CUDWORTH (Ralph):

A Treatise concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality With A Preface by the Right Reverend Father in God, Edward Lord Bishop of Durham

London: Printed for James and John Knapton, 1731, FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 192 x 117 mms. pp. xii [xiii - xx Contents], 303 [304 blank], engraved portrait of Cudworth as frontispiece, contemporarly panelled calf, red leather label; top of spine chipped, some other slight wear to binding, but a very good copy. The philosopher and theologian Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688) is often remembered as the father of Damaris Masham, "the second wife of Sir Francis Masham of Oates in Essex. She was a learned lady who inherited her father's papers as well as his interest in scholarship, defended him against critics who included Leibniz, published (anonymously) A Discourse Concerning the Love of God (1696), and became a friend of John Locke, who made her home his permanent residence in his final years and died there" (ODNB). Cudworth's most significant work is his The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1671); the present work was published after his death. He has been credited with a refutation of the so-called "naturalistic fallacy" [is an informal logical fallacy which argues that if something is 'natural' it must be good. It is closely related to the is/ought fallacy – when someone tries to infer what 'ought' to be done from what 'is']. The work challenges Puritan Calivinism, as expressed, for example, by Descartes, and rejects if not refutes Hobbes's reduction of morality to civil obedience: Cudworth stressed the natural good or evil inherent in an event or an act in contrast to the Calvinist-Cartesian notion of divine law or to Hobbes's concept of a secular sovereign. Cudworth's promulgation of a system of ethics that priotitizes rational, disinterested, spontaneous and public spirited acts and activities over wilfulness and solipsistic self-interest didn't get much attention in a recent election in the United States. the Sandys copy, from the Ombersley Court Sale [part lot 408].

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10600

Catalogue: Morality

Keywords: morality ethics prose

RALPH CUDWORTH

The True Intellectual System of the Universe (4 Vols)

UK, Elibron Classics. 2010. Soft cover, 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Book, 4 vols in 7 books comprising volume I parts 1 and 2, volume II part I and 2, volume III, volume IV parts 1 and 2 facsimile paperback of the 1820 issue, very good, reprint undated ca 2010. Very Good.

Salsus BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 068975

Keywords: philosophy

RALPH CUDWORTH.

The True Intellectual System of the Universe. Complete in two volumes.

Printed for J.Walthoe &c, London, 1743. 2nd Edition. Hardcover. Very Good .

Clearwater BooksProfessional seller

Book number: GM90125