Anne Conway
Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway , b. Anne Finch (born December 14, 1631 in London , † February 18, 1679 ) was an English philosopher.
Life
Conway was the daughter of Sir Heneage Finch, a lawyer and politician who died shortly before she was born, and his second wife Elizabeth. Conway grew up as the youngest child in the family on what is now known as Kensington Palace , which was owned by the Finch family prior to its remodeling. In 1651 he married Edward Conway , who was 3rd Viscount Conway in 1665 and 1st Earl of Conway in 1679 . She lived at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire .
Through her stepbrother, John Finch, who studied at the University of Cambridge , she came into contact with Henry More , one of the leading representatives of the Cambridge Platonists . She received philosophical instruction from him in correspondence, especially about the work of René Descartes , but soon developed from a student to a friendly discussion partner. More's book Antidote against Atheism , published in 1653, is dedicated to her.
Through Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont (who was her doctor, she often suffered from migraines), son of the naturalist Johan Baptista van Helmont , she learned about Quakerism , to which she converted shortly before her death, as well as the Jewish Kabbalah . The theosophist Elizabeth Foxcroft, who lived at Ragley Hall for a long time, and her son Ezekiel Foxcroft belonged to their circle .
Often marked by severe illness in his youth, Conway died in 1679 at the age of 47.
reception
Her only surviving work appeared under the title Prinicipia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae in Latin translation and without naming the author in Amsterdam in 1690. As The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy it was published in 1692 in a back-translated English edition in London. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz owned a copy of the treatise and was influenced by it about the concept of the monad .
The Anne-Conway Street in Bremen, district of Horn-Lehe , was named in 1997 after her.
Editions and translations
- Allison P. Coudert, Taylor Corse (Eds.): Anne Conway: The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-47335-7 (translated into modern English)
- Peter Loptson (Ed.): Anne Conway: The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (= Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Idées , 101). The Hague et al. 1982
- Marjorie Hope Nicolson , Sarah Hutton (Eds.): The Conway Letters. The Correspondence of Viscountess Anne Conway, Henry More and their Friends. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992
literature
- Sarah Hutton : Anne Conway. A woman philosopher. Cambridge 2004
- Christian Hengstermann, Ulrike Weichert (ed.): Anne Conway's "Principia philosophiae" - criticism of materialism and speculation of solitude in modern England (= Pontes , vol. 52). LIT-Verlag, Berlin et al. 2012.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Conway, Anne |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Finch, Anne; Conway, Anne, Viscountess Conway |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English philosopher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 14, 1631 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 1679 |