Joseph Priestley Biography

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Dictionary of Literary Biography on Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley's range of intellectual interests was great, even by the standards of the eighteenth century. He was a Dissenting minister, and his chief concerns were theological. His scientific work, for which he is now best known, occupied much of his remaining time. In addition he wrote extensively on history, education, rhetoric, and politics. In his day Priestley was also a philosopher of some importance. He argued the case for materialism perhaps more cogently than did any British thinker before recent times. He presented determinism vigorously, with a focus on the central issue of the nature of causation. He speculated interestingly, following Jesuit scientist Roger Joseph Boscovich, on the nature of matter. He defended scientific realism against Thomas Reid's Common Sense realism and against (as he saw it) David Hume's phenomenalism. He articulated, against Hume, a working scientist's account of causation, induction, and scientific progress. He defended the argument from design against Hume's penetrating criticisms.

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