Naturalisms in Spinoza, Hume, and Shepherd

This collection, including chapters by an outstanding roster of contributors, creates a dialogue among two philosophers rarely discussed together – Benedict Spinoza and David Hume – and one who until recently was hardly discussed at all – Mary Shepherd.

Naturalisms in Spinoza, Hume, and Shepherd confronts the traditional history of Modern philosophy that pitches “Continental Rationalists” against “British Empiricists,” with Benedict Spinoza on one side, David Hume on the other, and women philosophers – including Mary Shepherd – nowhere to be seen. This volume explores an alternative approach to the period, through the lens of “naturalisms,” which brings into focus the commonalities among these three philosophers. The contributors examine various naturalistic themes in their philosophies – particularly, in their methodologies, their ontologies, and their views about the human being and God. The specific topics explored include minds and bodies; mathematics and natural science; human beings and other animals; miracles; the passions and motivation; and the artificial virtues. A helpful introduction by the editors distinguishes the various naturalisms explored in the volume and explains the appeal of this approach to the history of Modern philosophy.

Naturalisms in Spinoza, Hume, and Shepherd will be of great interest to students and researchers of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century philosophy, and to those interested in the history of metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the history and philosophy of science.

Jonathan Cottrell is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He has published articles in The Philosophical Review, the Journal of the History of Philosophy, Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, and other venues. He is currently researching and writing a monograph on David Hume’s philosophy of mind and psychology.

Aaron Garrett is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Boston University, USA. He is the author of several books including Meaning in Spinoza's Method and Berkeley's Three Dialogues, and editor of The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth Century Philosophy (2017) and with James Harris Scottish Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century (2015). He is co-editor, with Pauliina Remes, of the book series Rewriting the History of Philosophy (Routledge).