4 Harmony in Spinoza and his Critics

Mary Astell on Neighborly Love

“…First, human beings (in their rational nature) either (modest reading) share a common nature or (bold reading) are not distinct; therefore, we should care about all humans' good (Ethics 4p35, 4p35d, 4p37d2). Anne Conway, as seen in The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy 7.3, is another theocentric metaphysician who argues that love is grounded in the unity of nature (Yenter 2018). Second, when viewed from the perspective of eternity, God is not at all concerned for the "good for me", so it would be incorrect for a rational being to be so concerned (Ethics 1.App).…”

Suffering for Justice in Anne Conway and Maria W. Stewart

“…6 Jonathan Head (n.d.) argues that Conway's lack of a political vision is connected to a change in Quaker eschatology; by the 1670s, there was lessened belief in a near future where the kingdom of God is practiced widely. 7 See Yenter (2018).…”

“…In Anne Conway's sole philosophical monograph, she argues that every finite thing is a spirit, that bodies are modes of spirit, that spirits become more or less bodily in relation to their good or bad choices, that these bad choices and subsequent increased embodiment explain pain, and that eventually all spirits will achieve a good, pure state. Although Leibniz coined the term "theodicy" thirty-five years after she wrote, Conway's Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy is often called a theodicy (Popkin 1990;Harrison 1993;Coudert andCorse [1670] 1996;Byrne 2005;White 2008;Parageau 2018;Burns 2021;Hutton 2021;Felter Vaucanson 2021;Yenter 2021). Theodicies are attempts to reconcile the existence of God with the existence of evil (or amount of evil or kind of evil).…”