In this paper I explore a series of terse arguments by Newton in the General Scholium of the Principia. All these arguments involve unusual modal metaphysics. I analyze the metaphysical commitments revealed by these arguments and by drawing on writings of Toland and Clarke I argue that Spinozism is the implied target.

Philosophy Seminar Series
Date: Thursday, 18 August 2016
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Venue: AS3 #05-23
Speaker: Prof Eric Schliesser
Moderator: Dr Qu Hsueh Ming

About the Speaker:

Eric Schliesser (PhD, Chicago 2002) is Professor of Political Theory at The University of Amsterdam, and Visiting Professor of Philosophy & Moral Sciences, Ghent University. He publishes in early modern philosophy and the philosophy of economics. He is an active blogger, and has edited numerous volumes, most recently, “Sympathy: A History of a Concept” (Oxford). His monograph on Adam Smith is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.