In Materialism from Hobbes to Locke, Stewart Duncan provides a lucid and judicious investigation of some central episodes in the history of materialism in seventeenth-century Britain. The book begins with an examination of Thomas Hobbes’s defense of materialism. Duncan then considers three significant critics of Hobbes’s materialism: Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, and Margaret Cavendish. Last, he turns to a four-chapter treatment of issues surrounding materialism in John Locke. A brief epilogue considers Locke’s influence on Toland and Collins.
In chapters 1 and 2, Duncan displays his expertise concerning Hobbes on language and ontology. Chapter 1 focuses on Hobbes contra Descartes in the Objections and Replies to the Meditations. This is a helpful context for understanding Hobbes’s materialism, as well as providing critical background for any discussion of ontology in the early modern period. In addition to the obvious topic of the nature of finite minds, a critical topic...
