Henry More (; 12 October 1614 – 1 September 1687) was an English philosopher, Anglican priest, theologian, and poet, associated with the Cambridge Platonists. He sought to reconcile Platonism with Christian theology and responded critically to Cartesian philosophy. His metaphysical writings addressed the nature of spirit, matter, divine providence, and the soul, and he was a prominent voice in seventeenth-century religious and philosophical debates.

More rejected Cartesian dualism, arguing that spirit, like matter, must be extended in space. He coined the term fourth dimension and introduced the concept of essential spissitude to describe the spatial extension of immaterial substance. He also proposed the existence of a Spirit of Nature—an unconscious, incorporeal agent through which God sustained the order of the physical world. His metaphysics grounded his opposition to materialist atheism and emphasised the necessity of immaterial principles in explaining life and motion.

He opposed the Cartesian view that animals were mere machines, asserting instead that they possess immaterial but mortal souls. More regarded animals as part of divine providence and cited their usefulness to humans as evidence of design, while acknowledging the theological difficulty posed by predation and suffering.

His writings, in both Latin and English, spanned metaphysics, ethics, natural philosophy, and theology, and included poetry and prose. He influenced figures such as Lady Anne Conway, Joseph Glanvill, and John Norris, and was later cited by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Helena Blavatsky.

Biography

Henry More was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire on 12 October 1614. He was the seventh son of Alexander More, mayor of Grantham, and his wife Anne More (). Although both parents were Calvinists, More later wrote that he "could never swallow that hard doctrine."

He was educated at The King's School, Grantham and at Eton College, before entering Christ's College, Cambridge in 1631, around the time that John Milton was departing. He received his BA in 1635 and his MA in 1639, and was shortly thereafter elected a fellow of his college, declining all other preferments. He declined the mastership of Christ's College in 1654, despite indications that he was the preferred candidate, and the position was instead offered to Ralph Cudworth. In 1675, More accepted a prebend at Gloucester Cathedral, but soon resigned it in favour of his friend Edward Fowler, who later became bishop of Gloucester.

Among More's students was Anne Finch, sister of Heneage Finch, who later became Lady Conway. At her estate at Ragley in Warwickshire, More spent a significant amount of time and composed several of his works. Lady Conway's spiritual interests influenced some of More's philosophical ideas, although she eventually joined the Quakers. She maintained friendships not only with More and William Penn, but also with figures such as Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont and Valentine Greatrakes, both associated with 17th-century mystical and thaumaturgical traditions. Ragley thus became a centre of spiritual and religious activity.

More died in Cambridge on 1 September 1687 and was buried in the chapel of Christ's College.—as part of his proposed resolution to the mind–body problem.

Spirit of Nature

To account for natural phenomena he regarded as inadequately explained by mechanical laws—such as gravity, magnetism, and biological instincts—More proposed the existence of the Spirit of Nature. He described it as an incorporeal but extended substance that functioned as a secondary, unconscious cause in nature. Although distinct from God, it was considered a necessary emanation of divine power through which God maintained the order of the physical world.

More regarded animals as part of divine providence, often citing their usefulness to humans—as sources of food, labour, or companionship—as evidence of design. He also argued that even wild or dangerous animals served providential ends, such as testing human courage or contributing to the beauty and complexity of creation. However, the existence of predatory and harmful animals raised theological challenges, especially concerning the problem of evil. In response, More suggested that such creatures reflected the limitations of creation rather than flaws in the divine will.

A quotation from More is used as the epigraph to Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "The Over-Soul", published in Essays: First Series (1841).

Helena Blavatsky, the founder of modern Theosophy, quoted More and discussed his ideas in chapter VII of her work Isis Unveiled (1877).

Works

thumb|Works (Henrici Mori Cantabrigiensis Opera Omnia), 1679

More was a prolific author of both verse and prose. His Divine Dialogues (1688) presents a concise statement of his philosophical and theological views. Like many writers of his era, he began as a poet and later turned primarily to prose. His first work, written in 1640 and published in 1642, was Psychodoia Platonica: or, a Platonicall Song of the Soul, consisting of four several Poems. In 1647, he published a larger collection titled Philosophical Poems, which included an expanded version of The Song of the Soul and was dedicated to his father. A second edition appeared later that year, and the collection was reprinted by A. B. Grosart in the Chertsey Worthies Library (1878).

More's prose works include the following:

References

Attribution:

Further reading

  • Originally published 1926 by J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London & Toronto.