Henry More

Henry More was an English philosopher and theologian who lived during the 17th century. He was a member of the Cambridge Platonists, a group of philosophers who sought to combine the ideas of Plato and Aristotle with those of Christianity. More was primarily known for his belief in immaterial minds, which he saw as the key to understanding the nature of human beings and the universe. More's belief in the existence of the soul was a central part of his philosophy. It led him to reject the materialism of philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, who held that all things in the universe are made up of matter and that the mind is a product or part of the material brain. More rejected the idea of a material mind, and one of the key philosophical ideas that influenced More's thinking was the philosophy of René Descartes, more specifically, his Cartesian dualism. Descartes argued that the universe comprises two fundamental types of substance: material and immaterial. Material substances, like grass and rocks, are composed of matter and occupy space. On the other hand, immaterial substances are non-physical and don't exist in space. Descartes also believed that the most important type of immaterial substance was the soul, which he saw as the source of our thinking and consciousness.

More embraced the idea of Cartesian dualism and developed it further in his philosophy. He argued that the mind is self-aware, even going as far as to say that the mind is a conscious being that exists independently of the body. He believed that the mind could live in a state separate from the body. Furthermore, he thought that our souls were immortal and continued to exist past the body's death. More saw the mind as the key to understanding the nature of human beings, and he believed that the mind gives us our unique identity and makes us fundamentally different from other animals. Anne Conway also originally subscribed to Cartesian dualism as More's pupil, and followed along his footsteps for the majority of her life. However, as described in her biography, she took significant influence from Quakerism and disputed the belief that material and spiritual worlds exist categorically different from one another. This is clear not only through her Principles, but even through the analyses of Conway by today's academics: "[Conway] too was a monist: that is she postulated that there was only one substance in created nature, and that all things were created of this single substance" (Broad). More on the other hand thought that "only a fool would believe that matter is wise" (Broad). Although More and Conway disagreed with one another, they also respected each other and recognized the intellectual thought process in both of their ideologies.

What was first a correspondence where Conway sought an understanding of Descartes from More became a discussion to explain the soul-body relationship. Soon after, in their correspondence, More and Conway began to argue with one another on dualism due to a doubt that Anne had. Conway actually used many of Platonist's premises to make her arguments. For example, "Like the Platonists, Conway says that ‘the divine power, goodness, and wisdom has created good creatures so that they may continually and infinitely move towards the good" (Broad). She also argued that all creatures must possess the ability to move, otherwise they couldn't possibly move towards goodness. But then, a particular question follows: how can we be so different from other animals if they have just as much of an ability to move toward goodness as us? How are we so different from these animals? Denying an animals ability to do so would be contradicting one of God's attributes. This is where Conway derived her idea of modal vs. real distinctions. Conway's central tenants that support her philosophy are Platonic, interestingly making her conclusions an extension of More's teachings. And yet, we see highly distinct philosophies from the two, such as their beliefs in comparing humans to animals.

Conway's newly developed philosophy helper her also refute many of More's ideas that contradicted her own philosophy. You see, More thought that the body and respective spirit were unified yet categorically different, and he coined this necessary unity as vital congruity. Conway directly addresses More's notion of vital congruity in her Principles.

"How can a spirit move its body or any of its members if the spirit (as they affirm) is of such a nature that no part of its body may resist in any way, as one body usually resists another, when as a result of its impenetrability, it is moved by it? For if spirit so easily penetrates every body, why, when it moves from place to place, does it not leave the body behind since it can so easily pass through it without any or the least resistance?" (Conway)

Another rebuttal Conway used against vital congruity was the reception of pain. How could mind suffer from the pain of the body? More definitely disagreed with Conway and was adamant that Descartes was right, but Conway definitely made compelling arguments that More had recognized as intellectually thought out. To make matters worse for More, Conway wasn't the only one of More's pupil's to change course from his original teachings. John Finch, Conway's half-brother, also departed from More's dualist thought. It became abundantly clear that Cartesian Dualism was a dying philosophy in the 1670s.

Henry More undeniably had a large influence on the field of metaphysics and theology, but it seems as if Conway successfully developed rebuttals against her tutor's philosophies for their time. Later, however, More became recognized past his death. He even reportedly influenced some of the world's greatest thinkers such as Isaac Newton. But of course, his ideology was and still is evidently erroneous in describing substance. I'd even go as far as to suspect his premises were ad hoc and were in actuality unintuitive.