"The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by th... more "The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought interprets this same essay as showing the beginning of the Collegiants' moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Light Within and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of this essay indicates the influence of a Quaker, it seems that, until now, no one has examined this connection in detail. A recent translation of William Ames' "Mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (1661) has now made this comparison possible. The comparison shows that the Quaker influence is substantial, and that "The Light Upon the Candlestick" is better interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of u... more While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of understanding knowledge that does not fit easily within the standard historical narrative of Western epistemology. The standard historical narrative tells the story of the rationalism–empiricism debates in early modern philosophy, emphasising the triumph of empiricism, the rise of modern science and the establishment of the scientific method as the highest form of Western knowledge by the early twentieth century. From a scientific point of view, religion could no longer be properly regarded as a kind of knowledge, but ‘merely’ a matter of faith whose claims are seen as often coming into conflict with scientific understandings. The Quakers, however, have generally not regarded science and religion as being in conflict, and the reason is that they have generally grounded both their scientific and religious understandings in experience. The distinctive epistemology that emerges from Quaker thought can thus be desc...
Brill Research Perspectives in Quaker Studies, 2019
Quakerism (the Religious Society of Friends) emerged in the seventeenth century, during a time wh... more Quakerism (the Religious Society of Friends) emerged in the seventeenth century, during a time when philosophical debates about the nature of knowledge led to the emergence of modern science. The Quakers, in conversation with early modern philosophers, developed a distinctive epistemology rooted in their concept of the Light Within: a special internal sense giving access to divine insight. The Light Within provided illumination both to properly understand the Bible and to ‘read’ the Book of Nature. In , L. Rediehs argues that Quaker epistemology can be thought of as an expanded experiential empiricism, integrating ethical and religious knowledge with scientific knowledge. This epistemology has carried through in Quaker thought to the present day and can help address today’s epistemological crisis. This work will be of great interest to both philosophers interested in the epistemological implications of Quaker thought, and scholars of Quaker Studies interested in connecting Quaker thought to philosophical historical epistemology.
While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of u... more While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of understanding knowledge that does not fit easily within the standard historical narrative of Western epistemology. The standard historical narrative tells the story of the rationalism-empiricism debates in early modern philosophy, emphasising the triumph of empiricism, the rise of modern science, and the establishment of the scientific method as the highest form of Western knowledge by the early twentieth century. From a scientific point of view, religion could no longer be properly regarded as a kind of knowledge, but ‘merely’ a matter of faith whose claims are seen as often coming into conflict with scientific understandings. The Quakers, however, have generally not regarded science and religion as being in conflict, and the reason is that they have generally grounded both their scientific and religious understandings in experience. The distinctive epistemology that emerges from Quaker thought can thus be described as an expanded experiential empiricism.
In this paper, I argue that the relational theory of truth inherent in nonviolence offers a bette... more In this paper, I argue that the relational theory of truth inherent in nonviolence offers a better account of truth than any of the standard philosophical accounts. The correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories of truth each have their place and relevance, but even taken together are incomplete in their failure to address the relationship between truth and power. While the postmodern theory of truth does assert a relationship between truth and power, I argue that its conception of that relationship is incorrect. Nonviolence makes a claim to a kind of truth that is different from these standard philosophical theories of truth. The version of truth present in the theory of nonviolence can be found both in early Quaker thought, and in the writings of Mohandas Gandhi.
"The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers ... more "The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought interprets this same essay as showing the beginning of the Collegiants' moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Light Within and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of this essay indicates the influence of a Quaker, it seems that, until now, no one has examined this connection in detail. A recent translation of William Ames' "Mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (1661) has now made this comparison possible. The comparison shows that the Quaker influence is substantial, and that "The Light Upon the Candlestick" is better interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of ... more In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of the Kingdom of God). This work is mentioned on the title page of a more famous work, Het Licht op den Kandelaar (The Light upon the Candlestick), written in 1662 by the Dutch Collegiant Pieter Balling, a friend of the philosopher Spinoza, and translated into English a year later. Balling's work is regarded as an important statement of a stage of Collegiant thought, of special interest because of the apparent influences from Spinoza. But this same work was also considered by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Some early Quaker sources even listed the author as Ames himself. The confusion resulted from the title page, which references the separate work Mysteries of the Kingdom of God as authored by Ames. The English translation offered here not only makes the work available to English-speaking scholars, but also occasions a new and close comparison of the Mysteries and the Candlestick, examining the concept of the 'inward light' in relation to rationalism in circles of Quakers and Collegiants.
LIAS Journal of Early Modern Intellectual Culture and its Sources, 2013
In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of ... more In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of the Kingdom of God). This work is mentioned on the title page of a more famous work, Het Licht op den Kandelaar (The Light upon the Candlestick), written in 1662 by the Dutch Collegiant Pieter Balling, a friend of the philosopher Spinoza, and translated into English a year later. Balling's work is regarded as an important statement of a stage of Collegiant thought, of special interest because of the apparent influences from Spinoza. But this same work was also considered by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Some early Quaker sources even listed the author as Ames himself. The confusion resulted from the title page, which references the separate work Mysteries of the Kingdom of God as authored by Ames. The English translation offered here not only makes the work available to English-speaking scholars, but also occasions a new and close comparison of the Mysteries and the Candlestick, examining the concept of the 'inward light' in relation to rationalism in circles of Quakers and Collegiants.
Mainstream American culture is increasingly guilty of economic idolatry: placing economic conside... more Mainstream American culture is increasingly guilty of economic idolatry: placing economic considerations at the center of decision making, even above ethical considerations, and demanding that we each, above all, serve the economy, as workers, consumers, or investors. “The economy” has become a god. One result has been increasing forces of dehumanization in our world. This dehumanization may be explained by a 1932 quotation Bertrand Russell: “Finance, like war, suffers from the fact that almost all those who have technical competence also have a bias which is contrary to the interest of the community." How might we employ the techniques of nonviolent change to address the kind of violence implicit in this abuse of power?
“The Light Upon the Candlestick” (1663) was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was embraced by th... more “The Light Upon the Candlestick” (1663) was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was embraced by the Quakers as a good account of Quaker epistemology, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought, Andrew Fix, interprets this same essay as showing the Collegiants moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Inner Light and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of the English translation of this essay indicates that the author was influenced by a Quaker, it seems that no one has examined this connection in detail. I have now done so, and conclude that the Quaker influences are much stronger than the rationalist influences, and so “The Light Upon the Candlestick” is best interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought, rather than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
The term "nonviolence" represents a set of actions that can be highly effective in promoting soci... more The term "nonviolence" represents a set of actions that can be highly effective in promoting social and political change, and yet the term is negative and is often incorrectly thought to be equivalent to passivity. Gandhi tried to rectify this situation by coining a new word: "satyagraha," which means "truth-force," to express the positive and active connotations of the concept more clearly. This force has also been described as "a force more powerful" than violence, and some theorists argue that it is in fact the only force capable of transforming injustice into justice. In this presentation, I examine the concept of "truth" inherent in satyagraha.
Quakerism was taking form at the same time as the rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy and... more Quakerism was taking form at the same time as the rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy and the rise of modern science. While none of the early Quakers were themselves participants in these debates at the academic level, an implicit epistemology can be drawn from some of their theological writings. The predominant summary account of the rationalism/empiricism debate is that empiricism ultimately “won” through the ascendancy of modern science, leaving us no longer in need of the “God hypothesis.” The implication is that the only way to support belief in God, if God does exist, is with some version of rationalism. Sense experience can give us no knowledge of God because God is not a physical being detectable by the senses. The only possible way to have access to knowledge of a supreme spiritual being would be through innate ideas, or through a reasoning process capable of producing substantive knowledge (hence rationalism rather than empiricism). But, surprisingly, the early Quakers who did write specifically about knowledge did not seem to be supporting a version of rationalism. They were much too critical of human reasoning. Instead, their implicit epistemology is better described as a version of empiricism that assumes a broader notion of “experience” than we currently assign to empiricism. In my paper, I describe the version of empiricism I see underlying early Quaker thought, with special attention to different ways of understanding “experience,” and then I discuss the further implications of this epistemology and its relevance for today.
"The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by th... more "The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought interprets this same essay as showing the beginning of the Collegiants' moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Light Within and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of this essay indicates the influence of a Quaker, it seems that, until now, no one has examined this connection in detail. A recent translation of William Ames' "Mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (1661) has now made this comparison possible. The comparison shows that the Quaker influence is substantial, and that "The Light Upon the Candlestick" is better interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of u... more While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of understanding knowledge that does not fit easily within the standard historical narrative of Western epistemology. The standard historical narrative tells the story of the rationalism–empiricism debates in early modern philosophy, emphasising the triumph of empiricism, the rise of modern science and the establishment of the scientific method as the highest form of Western knowledge by the early twentieth century. From a scientific point of view, religion could no longer be properly regarded as a kind of knowledge, but ‘merely’ a matter of faith whose claims are seen as often coming into conflict with scientific understandings. The Quakers, however, have generally not regarded science and religion as being in conflict, and the reason is that they have generally grounded both their scientific and religious understandings in experience. The distinctive epistemology that emerges from Quaker thought can thus be desc...
Brill Research Perspectives in Quaker Studies, 2019
Quakerism (the Religious Society of Friends) emerged in the seventeenth century, during a time wh... more Quakerism (the Religious Society of Friends) emerged in the seventeenth century, during a time when philosophical debates about the nature of knowledge led to the emergence of modern science. The Quakers, in conversation with early modern philosophers, developed a distinctive epistemology rooted in their concept of the Light Within: a special internal sense giving access to divine insight. The Light Within provided illumination both to properly understand the Bible and to ‘read’ the Book of Nature. In , L. Rediehs argues that Quaker epistemology can be thought of as an expanded experiential empiricism, integrating ethical and religious knowledge with scientific knowledge. This epistemology has carried through in Quaker thought to the present day and can help address today’s epistemological crisis. This work will be of great interest to both philosophers interested in the epistemological implications of Quaker thought, and scholars of Quaker Studies interested in connecting Quaker thought to philosophical historical epistemology.
While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of u... more While few Quakers have been academic philosophers, Quaker thought provides a distinctive way of understanding knowledge that does not fit easily within the standard historical narrative of Western epistemology. The standard historical narrative tells the story of the rationalism-empiricism debates in early modern philosophy, emphasising the triumph of empiricism, the rise of modern science, and the establishment of the scientific method as the highest form of Western knowledge by the early twentieth century. From a scientific point of view, religion could no longer be properly regarded as a kind of knowledge, but ‘merely’ a matter of faith whose claims are seen as often coming into conflict with scientific understandings. The Quakers, however, have generally not regarded science and religion as being in conflict, and the reason is that they have generally grounded both their scientific and religious understandings in experience. The distinctive epistemology that emerges from Quaker thought can thus be described as an expanded experiential empiricism.
In this paper, I argue that the relational theory of truth inherent in nonviolence offers a bette... more In this paper, I argue that the relational theory of truth inherent in nonviolence offers a better account of truth than any of the standard philosophical accounts. The correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories of truth each have their place and relevance, but even taken together are incomplete in their failure to address the relationship between truth and power. While the postmodern theory of truth does assert a relationship between truth and power, I argue that its conception of that relationship is incorrect. Nonviolence makes a claim to a kind of truth that is different from these standard philosophical theories of truth. The version of truth present in the theory of nonviolence can be found both in early Quaker thought, and in the writings of Mohandas Gandhi.
"The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers ... more "The Light Upon the Candlestick" was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was taken by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought interprets this same essay as showing the beginning of the Collegiants' moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Light Within and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of this essay indicates the influence of a Quaker, it seems that, until now, no one has examined this connection in detail. A recent translation of William Ames' "Mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (1661) has now made this comparison possible. The comparison shows that the Quaker influence is substantial, and that "The Light Upon the Candlestick" is better interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of ... more In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of the Kingdom of God). This work is mentioned on the title page of a more famous work, Het Licht op den Kandelaar (The Light upon the Candlestick), written in 1662 by the Dutch Collegiant Pieter Balling, a friend of the philosopher Spinoza, and translated into English a year later. Balling's work is regarded as an important statement of a stage of Collegiant thought, of special interest because of the apparent influences from Spinoza. But this same work was also considered by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Some early Quaker sources even listed the author as Ames himself. The confusion resulted from the title page, which references the separate work Mysteries of the Kingdom of God as authored by Ames. The English translation offered here not only makes the work available to English-speaking scholars, but also occasions a new and close comparison of the Mysteries and the Candlestick, examining the concept of the 'inward light' in relation to rationalism in circles of Quakers and Collegiants.
LIAS Journal of Early Modern Intellectual Culture and its Sources, 2013
In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of ... more In 1661, the Quaker William Ames wrote his De Verborgentheden van het Rijcke Godts (Mysteries of the Kingdom of God). This work is mentioned on the title page of a more famous work, Het Licht op den Kandelaar (The Light upon the Candlestick), written in 1662 by the Dutch Collegiant Pieter Balling, a friend of the philosopher Spinoza, and translated into English a year later. Balling's work is regarded as an important statement of a stage of Collegiant thought, of special interest because of the apparent influences from Spinoza. But this same work was also considered by the Quakers to be a good account of their own theory of knowledge, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Some early Quaker sources even listed the author as Ames himself. The confusion resulted from the title page, which references the separate work Mysteries of the Kingdom of God as authored by Ames. The English translation offered here not only makes the work available to English-speaking scholars, but also occasions a new and close comparison of the Mysteries and the Candlestick, examining the concept of the 'inward light' in relation to rationalism in circles of Quakers and Collegiants.
Mainstream American culture is increasingly guilty of economic idolatry: placing economic conside... more Mainstream American culture is increasingly guilty of economic idolatry: placing economic considerations at the center of decision making, even above ethical considerations, and demanding that we each, above all, serve the economy, as workers, consumers, or investors. “The economy” has become a god. One result has been increasing forces of dehumanization in our world. This dehumanization may be explained by a 1932 quotation Bertrand Russell: “Finance, like war, suffers from the fact that almost all those who have technical competence also have a bias which is contrary to the interest of the community." How might we employ the techniques of nonviolent change to address the kind of violence implicit in this abuse of power?
“The Light Upon the Candlestick” (1663) was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was embraced by th... more “The Light Upon the Candlestick” (1663) was written by a Dutch Collegiant, but was embraced by the Quakers as a good account of Quaker epistemology, according to Rufus Jones and Richard Popkin. Yet a contemporary scholar of Dutch Collegiant thought, Andrew Fix, interprets this same essay as showing the Collegiants moving away from a spiritualist interpretation of the Inner Light and towards a rationalist interpretation, influenced by the philosopher Spinoza. While the title page of the English translation of this essay indicates that the author was influenced by a Quaker, it seems that no one has examined this connection in detail. I have now done so, and conclude that the Quaker influences are much stronger than the rationalist influences, and so “The Light Upon the Candlestick” is best interpreted as a point of convergence between Quaker and Collegiant thought, rather than as a rationalist turn in Collegiant thought.
The term "nonviolence" represents a set of actions that can be highly effective in promoting soci... more The term "nonviolence" represents a set of actions that can be highly effective in promoting social and political change, and yet the term is negative and is often incorrectly thought to be equivalent to passivity. Gandhi tried to rectify this situation by coining a new word: "satyagraha," which means "truth-force," to express the positive and active connotations of the concept more clearly. This force has also been described as "a force more powerful" than violence, and some theorists argue that it is in fact the only force capable of transforming injustice into justice. In this presentation, I examine the concept of "truth" inherent in satyagraha.
Quakerism was taking form at the same time as the rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy and... more Quakerism was taking form at the same time as the rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy and the rise of modern science. While none of the early Quakers were themselves participants in these debates at the academic level, an implicit epistemology can be drawn from some of their theological writings. The predominant summary account of the rationalism/empiricism debate is that empiricism ultimately “won” through the ascendancy of modern science, leaving us no longer in need of the “God hypothesis.” The implication is that the only way to support belief in God, if God does exist, is with some version of rationalism. Sense experience can give us no knowledge of God because God is not a physical being detectable by the senses. The only possible way to have access to knowledge of a supreme spiritual being would be through innate ideas, or through a reasoning process capable of producing substantive knowledge (hence rationalism rather than empiricism). But, surprisingly, the early Quakers who did write specifically about knowledge did not seem to be supporting a version of rationalism. They were much too critical of human reasoning. Instead, their implicit epistemology is better described as a version of empiricism that assumes a broader notion of “experience” than we currently assign to empiricism. In my paper, I describe the version of empiricism I see underlying early Quaker thought, with special attention to different ways of understanding “experience,” and then I discuss the further implications of this epistemology and its relevance for today.
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Papers by Laura Rediehs
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0090
Talks by Laura Rediehs
This talk evolved into this journal article:
https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/quaker.2016.21.1.6
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0090
This talk evolved into this journal article:
https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/quaker.2016.21.1.6