Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity: 1689-1920

Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity represents the first attempt to tell the story of those who taught and wrote philosophy outside the mainstream of the Anglican-Oxbridge establishment. Dr. Sell investigates the place given to philosophy in Dissenting academies and Nonconformist colleges between 1689 and 1920. During this time there were over one hundred such academies and colleges. The earliest Dissenting academy tutors and Nonconformist college teachers lived dangerously but they were seriously concerned with familiarising their students with all fields of philosophy such as logic, metaphysics, ethics and theology. The more philosophically talented eighteenth-century tutors produced books and articles in the field. Particularly the treatment of moral philosophy has been a prominent concern of a number of Dissenting philosophers. Dr. Sell examines the variety and range of philosophical interests espoused by Dissenters and Nonconformists in turn. The beliefs and views held by the philosophers are also examined in detail. This is both an important and an engaging book on a fascinating subject, which will appeal to those interested in the history of the Church, of education and of philosophy.