Logica: sive, ars rationcinandi

London: Awnsham & Johan. Churchill, 1692. Three parts in one. 12mo. [xii], 182, [2]; [viii], 200 [i.e. 190], [2] pp., including half-title and indexes. FIRST EDITION. Separate title for the Ontologia. Contemporary calf, boards ruled in blind, rebacked with the original backstrip laid down; an excellent copy. Item #16166

First edition of Le Clerc’s revision of the Port Royal Logique from a Protestant, Remonstrant perspective. The Remonstrants are Dutch Protestants who, in 1610, presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement with Calvinism. Like the Logique, this work deals with concept (idea), judgment, reasoning and method. Much of the work is anti-Cartesian and supports Locke’s theories of rationality. The present work was written as a textbook for his own students in Amsterdam, and was used at Cambridge as a standard text for many years, going through five editions by 1716.

Le Clerc was a confirmed rationalist. He believed that the fundamentals of Christianity are capable of demonstration. “Scripture must be rationally interpreted; one cannot believe what conflicts with rational truths, and doctrines over which rational men disagree are not essentials of faith.” He opposed Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, and Leibniz because their theories claim knowledge beyond human ideas.

Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736), a Swiss Protestant by birth, was one of the outstanding figures in Anglo-Dutch intellectual history. He had a major influence on eighteenth-century French philosophy. He championed rational religion, which was later widely accepted, and was also the first disciple of John Locke, whose work he introduced to Continental audiences. A prolific author, he edited three great encyclopedias comprising eighty-three volumes which were very influential in the development of the Age of Reason.

Price: $1,200.00

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