Thomas White (1593–1676)

Thomas White’s reputation has suffered unmerited decline since he was described by John Evelyn in 1651 as ‘a learned priest and famous philosopher’. His works embrace theology, metaphysics, natural philosophy and political theory. The leader of a minority faction of English Catholics, known after his alias as ‘Blackloists’, White’s overall intellectual position is determinedly antisceptical, characterized by a certainty-seeking synthesis of old and new. The traditional Aristotelianism of his own education is blended with aspects of the ‘new philosophy’ which he encountered in the 1640s; and in this respect White stands as an important representative of the intellectually turbulent times in which he lived.