Samuel Clarke
English theologian and philosopher, a friend of Newton, who tried to demonstrate by reason the existence of a necessary being.
Life
English theologian and philosopher (1675-1729), rector of St James's, Piccadilly, friend and defender of Newton. He gave the Boyle Lectures of 1704-1705 and tried to demonstrate by reason the existence of a necessary being. He exchanged with Leibniz a famous correspondence (1715-1716) on God, space and time.
Main works
Cosmological argument: something has existed from eternity, so there is an independent, necessary being.
Examines what Scripture says about the Trinity, in a way the Church of England contested.
Debate against Leibniz on space, time and God's action in the world.
In his own words
« First, then, it is absolutely and undeniably certain that something has existed from all eternity. »
« For since something now is, it is evident that something always was, otherwise the things that now are must have been produced out of nothing, absolutely and without a cause, which is a plain contradiction in terms. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe argues from the existence of something eternal to a necessary, intelligent, free first being.
Clarke, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God (1705)
Consciousness cannot belong to matter: the thinking soul is an immaterial substance.
Clarke, A Letter to Mr. Dodwell (1706)
Against Leibniz he defends real power to choose: the will is not moved like a weight on a scale.
Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (1717)
Right and wrong rest on eternal 'fitnesses' of things, as necessary and objective as mathematical truths.
Clarke, A Discourse of Natural Religion (1706)
Revelation must agree with reason: natural religion is demonstrable, and revelation confirms it.
Clarke, A Discourse of Natural Religion (1706)