Conway's World Soul and Monism

Head, Jonathan

Abstract

This paper considers the place of the ‘Middle Nature’ in Anne Conway’s philosophy, as a kind of ‘World Soul’-type figure that is both intimately present in all things in nature and acts as a mediator between God and creation. It is argued that consideration of this figure within Conway’s ontology can help to settle a question currently contested in the literature concerning the nature of her monism, namely, whether or not creation can be understood as a single individual. The paper concludes that the World Soul’s role in unifying and harmonising nature can help explain why Conway sometimes appears to be gesturing towards existence monism (according to which nature is composed of a single substance) in the text of her only published work, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1690), while only in fact committing herself to a type monism, in which nature is composed of an infinite number of substances.

Citation

Head, J. (2024). Conway's World Soul and Monism. In New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy (61-77). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-62902-0_5

• Acceptance Date: Jun 5, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Aug 24, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 24, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 7, 2023
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 61-77
• Book Title: New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-62902-0_5
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/442549
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-62902-0_5
• Related Public URLs: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/new-voices-conference-modern-anne-conway/