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For other uses, see John Toland (disambiguation). John Toland (1670–1722 was an Irish philosopher John Toland may also refer to John Toland (author (1912–2004 American author and

John Toland (November 30, 1670 - March 11, 1722) was an Irish philosopher. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats Events 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty Year 1722 ( MDCCXXII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language

Contents

Biography

Very little is known about his true origins other than the fact that he was born in Ardagh (Ballyliffin) on the Inishowen Peninsula, a predominantly Catholic and Irish speaking region of County Donegal, in north west Ulster. Ardagh Donegal (Ard Áth ("high field" is a small village on the Inishowen peninsula near Carndonagh in County Donegal, Ireland. Ballyliffin (Baile Lifin is a small Village located in the North Western tip of Inishowen, County Donegal, Ireland. Inishowen (Inis Eoghain is a historical peninsular region in County Donegal, and also the largest peninsula in Ireland. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. County Donegal (ˌdʌnəˈgɔːl Irish: Contae Dhún na nGall. Ulster ( Ulaidh ˈkwɪɟɪ ˈʌlˠu / ˈʌlˠi is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster It is likely that he was originally christened "Seán Eoghain Ui Thuathalláin", thus giving rise to the sobriquet "Janus Junius Toland". A sobriquet is a Nickname or a fancy name usually a familiar name given by others as distinct from a Pseudonym assumed as a disguise but a nickname which is familiar After having converted to Protestantism around the age of 16, he obtained a scholarship to study theology at the University of Glasgow. The University of Glasgow (Oilthigh Ghlaschu was founded in 1451 in Glasgow, Scotland and along with its contemporary institutions the University of St Andrews He would also later attend university at Edinburgh and at Leiden in Holland. His first book Christianity Not Mysterious (1696) was burnt by the public hangman in Dublin. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. He escaped prosecution by fleeing to England, where he spent most of the rest of his life.

Political thought

John Toland was the first person called a freethinker (by Bishop Berkeley) and went on to write over a hundred books in various domains but mostly dedicated to criticizing ecclesiastical institutions. Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that Beliefs should be formed on the basis of Science and Logic and should not be influenced George Berkeley (ˈbɑrkli (12 March 1685 14 January 1753 also known as Bishop Berkeley, was a Philosopher. A great deal of his intellectual activity was dedicated to writing political tracts in support of the Whig cause. The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to Many scholars know him for his role as either the biographer or editor of notable republicans from the mid-17th century such as James Harrington, Algernon Sidney and John Milton. Algernon Sydney or Sidney (January 1623 &ndash December 7 1683) was an English Politician, political theorist and opponent of King John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and His works "Anglia Libera" and "State Anatomy" are prosaic expressions of an English republicanism which reconciles itself with constitutional monarchy.

After Christianity Not Mysterious, Toland's views grew – bit by bit – more radical. His opposition to hierarchy in the church also led to opposition to hierarchy in the state; bishops and kings, in other words, were as bad as each other, and monarchy had no God-given sanction as a form of government. In his 1704 Letters to Serena - in which he coins the expression 'pantheism' - he carefully analyses the manner in which truth is arrived at, and why people are prone, as the Marxists might express it, to forms of 'false consciousness. Pantheism ( Greek: πάν ( 'pan') = all and θεός ( 'theos') = God it literally means " God is All Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. '

In politics his most radical proposition was that liberty was a defining characteristic of what it means to be human. Liberty, the freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force Political institutions should be designed to guarantee freedom, not simply to establish order. For Toland, reason and tolerance were the twin pillars of the good society. This was Whiggism at its most intellectually refined, the very antithesis of the Tory belief in sacred authority in both church and state. The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to In the political tradition of some English-speaking countries, the term Tory has referred to a variety of political parties and Creeds since it was Toland's belief in the need for perfect equality among free-born citizens was extended to the Jewish community, tolerated, but still outsiders in early eighteenth century England. In his 1714 Reasons for Naturalising the Jews he was the first to advocate full citizenship and equal rights for Jewish people. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************

Toland's world was not all detached intellectual speculation, though. There was also an incendiary element to his political pamphleteering, and he was not beyond whipping up some of the baser anti-Catholic sentiments of the day in his attacks on the Jacobites. Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for Discrimination, hostility or Prejudice directed at the Roman Catholic Church or its followers Jacobitism was (and to a limited extent remains the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland He also produced some highly controversial polemics, including the Treatise of Three Imposters, in which Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all condemned as the three great political frauds. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.

His republican sympathies were also evidenced by his editing of the writings of some of the great radicals of the 1650s, including James Harrington, Algernon Sydney, Edmund Ludlow and John Milton. Republicanism is the Ideology of governing a nation as a Republic, with an emphasis on Liberty, Rule of law, Popular sovereignty Algernon Sydney or Sidney (January 1623 &ndash December 7 1683) was an English Politician, political theorist and opponent of King Edmund Ludlow (c 1617 &ndash 1692 was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and In his support for the Hanoverian monarchy he somewhat moderated his republican sentiments; though his ideal kingship was one that would work towards achieving civic virtue and social harmony, a 'just liberty' and the 'preservation and improvement of our reason. ' But George I and the oligarchy behind Walpole were about as far from Toland's ideal as it is possible to get. George I (George Louis German Georg Ludwig; 28 May 1660 &ndash 11 June 1727 For the first year of his life George was the only heir to his father's and three childless In many ways he was thus a man born both too late and too early.

Contributions to natural philosophy

Toland influenced Baron d'Holbach's ideas about physical motion. Paul-Henri Thiry baron d'Holbach ( 1723 – 1789) was a French - German Author, Philosopher and Encyclopedist. In his Letters to Serena, Toland claimed that rest, or absence of motion, is not merely relative. Actually, for Toland, rest is a special case of motion. When there is a conflict of forces, the body that is apparently at rest is influenced by as much activity and passivity as it would be if it were moving.

Religious thought

Toland is generally classed with the deists, but at the time when he wrote Christianity not Mysterious he was careful to distinguish himself from both skeptical atheists and orthodox theologians. Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation After having formulated a stricter version of Locke's epistemological rationalism, Toland then goes on to show that there are no facts or doctrines from the Bible which are not perfectly plain, intelligible and reasonable, being neither contrary to reason nor incomprehensible to it. John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge All revelation is human revelation; that which is not rendered understandable is to be rejected as gibberish.

After his Christianity not Mysterious, Toland's "Letters to Serena" constitute his major contribution to philosophy. In the first three letters, he develops a historical account of the rise of superstition arguing that human reason cannot ever fully liberate itself from prejudices. In the last two letters, he founds a metaphysical materialism grounded in a critique of monist substantialism. The Philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to exist is Matter, and is considered a form of Physicalism. Later on, we find Toland continuing his critique of church government in Nazarenus which was first more fully developed in his "Primitive Constitution of the Christian Church", a clandestine writing in circulation by 1705. Year 1705 ( MDCCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The first book of "Nazarenus" calls attention to the right of the Ebionites to a place in the early church. The Ebionites ( Greek: grc Ἐβιωναῖοι Ebionaioi from Hebrew; he '''אביונים''' he-Latn ''Ebyonim'' "the Poor Ones" were an The thrust of his argument was to push to the very limits the applicability of canonical scripture to establish institutionalized religion. Later works of special importance include Tetradymus wherein can be found Clidophorus, a historical study of the distinction between esoteric and exoteric philosophies.

His Pantheisticon, sive formula celebrandae sodalitatis socraticae (Pantheisticon, or the Form of Celebrating the Socratic Society), of which he printed a few copies for private circulation only, gave great offence as a sort of liturgic service made up of passages from heathen authors, in imitation of the Church of England liturgy. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican The title also was in those days alarming, and still more so the mystery which the author threw around the question how far such societies of pantheists actually existed. The term "pantheism" was coined by Toland to describe the philosophy of Spinoza. Pantheism ( Greek: πάν ( 'pan') = all and θεός ( 'theos') = God it literally means " God is All Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, Toland was involved in at least one such society of pantheists: in 1717 he founded the Ancient Druid Order, an organization that continued uninterrupted until splitting into two groups in 1964. The Druid Order is the current name of a group started by John Toland the Irish Philosopher in 1917 Both those groups, The Druid Order and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, still exist today. The Order of Bards Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic order based in England.

Impact and legacy

Toland was a man not of his time; one who advocated principles of virtue in duty, principles that had little place in the England of Robert Walpole, governed by cynicism and self-interest. Robert Walpole 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC (26 August 1676 &ndash 18 March 1745 known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a His intellectual reputation, moreover, was subsequently eclipsed by the likes of John Locke and David Hume, and still more by Montesquieu and the French radical thinkers. John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Charles-Louis de Secondat baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (Eng Edmund Burke in his "Reflections on the Revolution in France" wrote dismissively of Toland and his fellows: "Who, born within the last 40 years, has read one word of Collins, and Toland, and Tindal, and Chubb, and Morgan, and that whole race who called themselves Freethinkers?"

Still, in Christianity not Mysterious, the book for which he is best known, Toland laid down a challenge not just to the authority of the established church, but to all inherited and unquestioned authority. Edmund Burke ( 12 January, 1729 9 July, 1797) was an Irish statesman author orator Political theorist, and Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790 by Edmund Burke, is one of the best-known intellectual attacks against the (then-infant French Revolution Tindal redirects here For the English and Australian Tindal family see Tyndall. It was thus as radical politically and philosophically, as it was theologically. This, and his political views, have given him an afterlife that could never have been dreamed of by Burke. It has even been argued that he was the "first Marxist" because of his views on the relationship between matter and motion. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Further reading

See Mosheim's Vindiciae antiquae christianorum disciplinae (1722), containing the most exhaustive account of Toland's life and writings; A Life of Toland (1722), by one of his most intimate friends; Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr John Toland, by Pierre Des Maizeaux, prefixed to The Miscellaneous Works of Mr John Toland (London, 1747); John Leland's View of the Principal Deistical Writers (last ed. Johann Lorenz von Mosheim ( October 9 1693 &ndash September 9, 1755) German Lutheran divine and Church historian Year 1722 ( MDCCXXII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Year 1747 ( MDCCXLVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a 1837); G. Year 1837 ( MDCCCXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common V. Lechlers Aeschichte des englischen Deismus (1841); Isaac Disraeli's Calamities of Authors (new ed. For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link , 1881); article on "The English Freethinkers" in Theological Review, No. Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common 5 (November, 1864); J. Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Hunt, in Contemporary Review, No. 6. Margaret Jacob, The Newtonians and the English Revolution (Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1976).

References

Works

This is a non-exhaustive list.

External links

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