William King (1 May 1650 – 8 May 1729) was an Anglican divine in the Church of Ireland, who was Archbishop of Dublin from 1703 to 1729. He was an author and supported the Glorious Revolution. He had considerable political influence in Ireland, including an effective veto on judicial appointments.

Early life

King was born in May 1650 in County Antrim, to James King and his wife; his parents were recent immigrants from Aberdeen. He was educated at The Royal School, Dungannon, County Tyrone, and thereafter at Trinity College Dublin, graduating BA on 23 February 1670 and MA in 1673.

Career

On 25 October 1671, King was ordained a deacon as chaplain to John Parker, Archbishop of Tuam, and on 14 July 1673 Parker gave him the prebend of Kilmainmore, County Mayo. King, who lived as part of Parker's household, was ordained a priest on 12 April 1674.

Philosophical works

As a philosopher and a man of letters, he wrote The State of the Protestants in Ireland under King James's Government in 1691 and De Origine Mali in 1702. The latter book was translated into English with extensive notes by Edmund Law in 1731 as An Essay on the Origin of Evil. It was also subject to discussion by Pierre Bayle as well as an influential critical discussion by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, published as an appendix to Leibniz's Théodicée.

De Origine Mali contains a provocative and original philosophical account of free will that has recently started to attract philosophers' attention. In the context of the debate on free will, King argues that human beings, like God, are endowed with a distinctive faculty of free choice (electio in Latin). This faculty, criticized by Leibniz as an unfounded magical power ("puissance magique"), can, for King, generate value in the world. Recently, scholars have been debating the details of the process that leads to the generation of value through choice in King's philosophy. While some argue that there is a lacuna in King's explanation between election and action, others claim that King gives an account of how desires can provide such a connection.

References

Further reading

  • C. S. King, ed. A great Archbishop of Dublin, William King, D.D., 1650-1729: His autobiography, family, and a selection from his correspondence; 1906, Longman,Green.
  • Philip O'Regan; Archbishop William King, 1650-1729 and the Constitution in Church and State; 2000, Four Courts Press, .
  • Robert S. Matteson, A large private park: the collection of Archbishop William King 1650–1729. Cambridge: LP Publications, 2003. (Libri Pertinentes, no. 7) 2 vols ; co-published with Tempe (Arizona): Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003.
  • Fauske, Christopher, ed. Archbishop William King and the Anglican Irish Context, 1688-1729; 2004, Four Courts Press, .
  • Fauske, Christopher, A Political Biography of William King; 2011, Chatto and Pickering, .