Glanvill, J.
Scepsis Scientifica or, Confest Ignorace, the way to Science; In an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing, and Confident Opinion. With a reply to the expertions of the Learned Thomas Albius

1665 г.

Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680) - English clergyman and philosopher. He was chaplain in ordinary to Charles II and prebendary of Worcester Cathedral. An exponent of occasionalism and precursor to Hume, Glanvill sought to prove the inefficacy of all secondary causes, which he regarded as merely the occasion of the activity of the first cause, God. This idea was presented in The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661), recast as Scepsis scientifica (1665). Although in later life Glanvill attested to a belief in witchcraft, his appreciation of the scientific method is evidenced by Plus Ultra; or, The Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the Days of Aristotle (1668). Glanvill's Scepsis scientifica was an influential account of the way in which scientific argument could be based on probabilistic reasoning. Some historians see the author as having been influenced by debates over the extent to which there was any ultimate authority in religious disputes.