Materialism from Hobbes to Locke

Stewart Duncan is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Florida, where he has taught since 2005. He is the author of numerous articles on Hobbes, Leibniz, and other seventeenth-century philosophers, and the editor (with Antonia LoLordo) of Debates in Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2013).

• "This elegant volume makes a strong case for the historical importance, and intrinsic interest, of materialism in seventeenth century English philosophy Duncan's book is an important new contribution...In conclusion: there is a welcome directness, and charity, even humility, throughout this concise volume. Duncan clearly knows his stuff; but there is no boasting or exaggerated theorizing. He hews closely to the texts and draws only modestconclusions, when no more is justified. Like Locke himself, Duncan appreciates the immense difficulty of the materialism question, and does not pronounce more than is warranted. This makes for an edifying andgenerous study, which might be returned to often by scholars and students of early modern European metaphysics." -- Philosophy in Review

In its great clarity and remarkable conciseness, the work starts from seemingly simple considerations about both classic and familiar questions, and ends up with relatively complex and subtle ones. This subtlety and this prudence are certainly in the image of Locke's thought itself. The concise and careful expression can certainly produce from time to time in the reader eager for certainties a feeling of dissatisfaction. However, taken to its conclusion, reading the work allows one to have a clear, articulated and nuanced vision of the various philosophical questions posed by the alternative between materialism and dualism, an alternative which here plays a structuring role in the construction of the arguments developed by the authors.