Could I be reborn as a horse in a future life? Or could I have been a horse in a past life? These might seem like strange questions to some, but they were nevertheless answered in the affirmative by the seventeenth-century philosopher Anne Conway. In her only published work, Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1690), Conway proposed a radical view of nature that’s only now in the process of being rediscovered.
Life, Briefly
Anne Finch was born into a wealthy family in London in 1631. She was the daughter of Sir Heneage Finch, a former Speaker of the House of Commons, and Elizabeth (nee Cradock). Little is known of her childhood, but from her early correspondence in young adulthood it appears that she had a voracious intellectual curiosity, with wide-ranging interests in philosophy, religion, science, and languages. In 1650, she began exchanging letters with the Cambridge philosopher Henry More, with whom she discussed numerous topics, including the new philosophy of René Descartes and the Platonism that More himself espoused. Anne and More had been introduced through her half-brother, John Finch, who had studied under More at Cambridge. More’s role as a philosophical mentor for Anne soon developed into that of a close friend, and they would remain in frequent contact for the rest of her life.
In 1651 Anne married Edward Conway, who would later be the First Earl of Conway, and soon settled at his home of Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. Their only child, Heneage, died of smallpox in 1660, aged only two.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.