Anthony Collins’s Followers (17)

Anthony Collins

Born

in Heston, near Hounslow, Middlesex, England, The United Kingdom

June 21, 1676

Died

December 13, 1729

Genre

Philosophy, Determinism, Materialism

Influences

John Toland, Voltaire, John Locke, Matthew Tindal, Anthony Ashley-Coop ...more

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Anthony Collins (21 June 1676 O.S. – 13 December 1729 O.S.), was an English philosopher.

In 1676, Anthony Collins, pronounced the "Goliath of freethinking" by Thomas Huxley, was born in Heston, England. Collins studied at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, and was a close friend of John Locke. He moved in a circle of leading freethinkers, including John Toland and Matthew Tindal. "An Essay Concerning the Use of Reason" was published (anonymously) in 1707, along with a letter addressing immateriality and the soul. A debate in 1708 with Samuel Clarke resulted in the publication of four pamphlets by each participant. In 1710, Collins wrote "Vindication of the Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Anthony Collins (21 June 1676 O.S. – 13 December 1729 O.S.), was an English philosopher.

In 1676, Anthony Collins, pronounced the "Goliath of freethinking" by Thomas Huxley, was born in Heston, England. Collins studied at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, and was a close friend of John Locke. He moved in a circle of leading freethinkers, including John Toland and Matthew Tindal. "An Essay Concerning the Use of Reason" was published (anonymously) in 1707, along with a letter addressing immateriality and the soul. A debate in 1708 with Samuel Clarke resulted in the publication of four pamphlets by each participant. In 1710, Collins wrote "Vindication of the Divine Attributes, in Some Remarks on Archbishop (King's) Sermon." The 1713 book, A Discourse of Freethinking, was Collins' most influential work, helping to popularize the term "freethought." Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty, published in 1717, won the praise of Voltaire. The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion (1724) rejected the claim that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Posthumously, two of his essays were published, including an article challenging religious authority. Although Collins left England for a time when debate heated up after the publication of A Discourse of Freethinking, the courteous scholar was debated and taken most seriously by leading religionists and Anglicans. Grounds, with its serious arguments against prophecy and its advancement of the scientific principle, provoked more than 30 books and essays by religionists trying to counter it. Collins, best described as a deist and materialist who opposed "priestcraft," at one time became county squire.

Joseph Smith in The Unreasonableness of Deism, or, the Certainty of a Divine Revelation (1720) called deists in general “the Wicked and Unhappy men we have to deal with.”

With respect to Collins’s controversy on “the soul,” T. H. Huxley said,

"I do not think anyone can read the letters which passed between Clarke and Collins without admitting that Collins, who writes with wonderful Power and closeness of reasoning, has by far the best of the argument, so far as the possible materiality of the soul goes; and that in this battle the Goliath of Freethinking overcame the champion of what was considered orthodoxy."

Berkeley, however, claimed that Collins had announced “that he was able to demonstrate the impossibility of God’s existence.”

Upon his death, the Earl of Egmont, John Percival, wrote: “Of Collins Esq. deceased December 1729 . . . [he] is a Speculative Atheist and has been for many years, as he owned to Archibald Hutchinson Esq. who told it to Dr. Dodd M.D. and to me.” ...more

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Anthony Collins’s books

Average rating: 3.32 · 34 ratings · 10 reviews · 141 distinct works

	Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers by Anthony Collins, Charles Bradlaugh, John Watts 2.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2015 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing 3.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1729 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A discourse of free-thinking, occasion'd by the rise and growth of a sect call'd Free-Thinkers 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1713 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Tummy of a Whale it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cockney Commando it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Determinism and Freewill: Anthony Collins’ A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty (Archives Internationales D'Histoire Des Idées Minor, 18) it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1899	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1717 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion 1.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1724 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Half-Hours with the Freethinkers by Anthony Collins, John Watts liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Examen des proph 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Anthony Collins (?)

“The Use of the Understanding, in endeavouring to find out the Meaning of any Proposition whatsoever, in considering the nature and Evidence for or against it, and in judging of it according to the seeming Force or Weakness of the Evidence.”
― Anthony Collins

tags: evidence, meaning, rationality, reason, scientific-method, understanding

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Anthony Collins’s Followers (17)

Anthony Collins

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Combine Editions
Anthony Collins’s books