The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy

Introduction

Conway wrote the treatise in English in the 1670s, during years of severe illness. After her death Francis Mercury van Helmont published a Latin translation in Amsterdam in 1690; an English version translated back from the Latin appeared in 1692, as the original manuscript was lost. In short chapters she develops a metaphysics of God, Christ as a middle nature and creatures, drawing on Henry More and on the Kabbalah. The book names Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza as opponents. It was long overlooked; since the 1980s it has been edited and studied anew as an example of women’s philosophy in the early modern period.

Connections

Criticizes

• Meditations on First Philosophy1641 · René Descartes
• Leviathan1651 · Thomas Hobbes
• Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order1677 · Baruch de Spinoza