Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley

Volume 2 of this 1807 work details the life and thought of eighteenth century British intellectual Joseph Priestley.

Joseph Priestley (Author), Thomas Cooper (Author)

9781108014205, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 June 2010

452 pages
21.6 x 2.6 x 14 cm, 0.57 kg

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was an eighteenth-century English polymath with accomplishments in the fields of science, pedagogy, philosophy, and theology. Among his more notable achievements were the discovery of oxygen and his work in establishing Unitarianism. Often a controversialist, Priestley's efforts to develop a 'rational' Christianity and support for the French Revolution eventually made him unwelcome in his native land. His 1807 Memoirs relate the story of his life until the time of his 1794 emigration to America and include other biographical materials written by his son. This second volume contains a lengthy discussion of Priestley's theological writings as well as four of his sermons. Priestley's memoirs are an important source for anyone interested in the state of epistemology, rationalism, and religious belief in the age of the Enlightenment, and in a man who, in the words of his son, 'gave unremitting exertions in the cause of truth'.

Appendix 6. A review of Dr. Priestley's theological works, with occasional extracts
Four discourses intended to have been delivered at Philadelphia.

Subject Areas: Physical chemistry [PNR]