Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Lord Of

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, third Lord of. – Philosopher, initiator sentiment (v.), born in London on 26 February 1671, died in Naples on 15 February 1713. He was educated by his uncle according LOCKE, JOHN (v.), who was also his first teacher. He studied the Neoplatonic philosophers (the Cambridge school) and was in contact with the leading philosophers of his time, not only in his own country but also on the European continent, where he often went to attend to his precarious health. Keeping away from political life, he devoted himself entirely to the contemplation of moral problems. He gave expression to his ethical ideal, set forth in numerous works, through the noblest form of life, which was greatly admired by his contemporaries. In 1709 he married Jane Ewer, by whom he had a son. He spent the last two years of his life in Naples (cf. B. Croce, op. cit. in the bibliography).

S. conceives the universe as a perfectly harmonious unity, in which all things, through their natural impulses, simultaneously strive toward their own perfection and that of the whole. Man is part of this universe: all his natural impulses are good, both those that are egoistic

(Hobbes), as well as those that are altruistic (Cumberland; cf. Inquiry, I, ed. 1900, p. 280 ff.), provided that they are coordinated with one another toward the integral perfection of the individual. Morality therefore does not consist in obedience to universal norms, divine precepts, or human laws, but in following natural impulses, which make possible the joy of the fullness of one’s own life, in intimate inner communion with the harmonious life of the whole of human society and indeed of the entire universe. Religion does not precede morality but follows it; indeed, it fundamentally coincides with morality, since it is not reason but living personal contact with the universe that makes one feel the existence of God as the animating principle of universal harmony. Living in intimate connection with God’s animating action is the ultimate meaning of all morality (cf. Philosophical regimen, p. 20 ff.). The criterion of morality derives neither from reason (rationalism) nor from empirical knowledge of utilities (utilitarianism), but from the moral sense, which is an intrinsic capacity of every individual, connatural with his very being, to perceive immediately through reflection what is or is not in conformity with the harmony of his own being and therefore with social and universal harmony (Inquiry, I, cited ed., chaps. 2 and 3). Fundamentally, this is an aesthetic judgment, or “moral taste,” since for S. beauty and goodness are completely synonymous. Morality thus becomes the aesthetic activity of individual, social, and universal perfection, and also the principle of all human knowledge. S. thus initiates optimistic, individualism (v.) and anticipates many Romantic positions. His importance in the history of philosophy is due less to the intrinsic value of his thought—which was, moreover, profoundly modified by his immediate successors (Hutcheson, Butler)—than to original insights that would be taken up not only by the Enlightenment thinkers (Diderot, Voltaire), but also by Kant, Lessing, Mendelsohn, Herder, Schlegel, and Schleiermacher, and that also influenced literature (Pope, Goethe).

Principal works: Inquiry concerning virtue and merit (1699); The sociable enthusiasm (1705), republished under the title The moralist, or the philosophical rapsody (1709); A letter concerning enthusiasm (1708); Seussus communis: an essay on the freedom of wit and humour (1709); Soliloquy, or advice to an author (1710); Miscellaneous reflections (1710). All these writings were republished as a single work in 3 vols.: Characteristics of man, manners, opinions, times (1711; various subsequent eds.; recent ed. in 2 vols., edited by J. M. Robertson, London 1900). The unpublished writings and letters (the first collection of which dates from 1716) were published by B. Band, The life, Unpubl. letters and Philosophical regimen of A. Earl of S. (there 1900); S.'s second Characters or the language of forms (Cambridge 1914).

BIBLI: Remarques sur un petit livre introduit de l'Anglois, intitulé: Lettre sur l'enthousiasme; Jugement sur les oeuvres de Mr. le Comte de S., in Recueil de divers pièces..., by Mrs. Leibniz, Clarke, Newton, II, Lovanna 1749, pp. 311-53; C. V. Gizycki, Die Philos. S.'s, Lipsia 1876; Th. Glover, S. and Hutcheson, London 1882; J. Martinau, Types of ethical theory, II, 2nd ed., Oxford 1886, p. 498 ff.; J. J. Martin, S.s and Hutchesons Verhältniss zu Hume, Halle 1915; Chr. Weiser, S. u. das deutsche Geistesleben, Berlino 1916; B. Croce, S. in Italia, in Uomini e cose della vecchia Italia, I, Bari 1917; L. Bandini, S., Bari 1920; E. Cassirer, S. u. die Renaissance des Platonismus in England, Berlino 1932; E. Garin, L'illuminismo inglese. I moralisti, Milano 1941, pp. 106 ff. Further references in W. Ziegenfuss, Philosophes-Lexikon, II, Berlino 1950, pp. 523-27. Tullio Piacentini