DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-DA012-1
Version: v1, Published online: 1998
Retrieved April 29, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/charleton-walter-1620-1707/v-1
Version: v1, Published online: 1998
Retrieved April 29, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/charleton-walter-1620-1707/v-1
Article Summary
The physician Walter Charleton was the first to introduce Epicurean atomism into England in the form advocated in France by Gassendi. Charleton’s version of atomism, although largely derivative, was nevertheless influential. Together with his advocacy of a Christian hedonism, it helped to make both atomism in natural philosophy (with its associated mechanistic account of nature) and utilitarian theories in ethics acceptable to such thinkers as Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, John Locke and others associated with the foundation of the Royal Society, of which Charleton was himself an active early member.
Citing this article:
Rogers, G.A.J.. Charleton, Walter (1620–1707), 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-DA012-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/charleton-walter-1620-1707/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.
Rogers, G.A.J.. Charleton, Walter (1620–1707), 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-DA012-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/charleton-walter-1620-1707/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.