The Cambridge Platonists were a group of seventeenth-century English philosophers and theologians attached to various Cambridge colleges. It was Benjamin Whichcote (1609-1683) who - in 1636 - first publicly uttered the tenets characteristic of Cambridge Platonism. Equally important were Henry More (1614-1687), Ralph Cudworth (1617-1689), and John Smith (1618-1662); somewhat less influential were Peter Sterry (1613-1672) and Nathaniel Culverwell (1619-1651). Most of the group’s writings were published posthumously.
The Cambridge Platonists greatly esteemed Plato, as well as the neo-platonic philosopher Plotin and the early Christian Origen. With a strong desire to reform organized religion, they reacted against the Protestantism and Calvinism of their day (especially the doctrine of Predestination), and, in case of More and Cudworth, against Cartesianism. What they found in the early writings of Plato and others enabled them to reconcile reason and...
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Citation: Spies, Marion. "Cambridge Platonists". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 May 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=157, accessed 09 June 2026.]
