The Religion of Nature Delineated, published in 1722, established William Wollaston as a prominent Enlightenment thinker who sought to construct a moral system based on mathematical logic. While he spent much of his life in relative seclusion, his intellectual contributions regarding natural law and ethics resonated across the eighteenth century, influencing academic circles in both Britain and the American colonies.
Early Life and Education
Born on 26 March 1659 in Coton Clanford, Staffordshire, Wollaston was raised in a family of modest means. He attended a newly opened Latin school in Shenstone before enrolling at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in June 1674 at age 15. During his final year of study, he published an anonymous poem concerning the Book of Ecclesiastes, a work he later sought to suppress. Following his graduation in 1681, he served as an assistant master at King Edward's School in Birmingham and held the position of perpetual curate at St Mary’s Church in Moseley.
Transition to Independent Study
In 1688, a significant inheritance from his cousin, also named William Wollaston, provided him with estates in Leicestershire and Suffolk. This wealth allowed him to relocate to London, where he abandoned public employment to focus exclusively on private study. Throughout his later years, he remained largely within the city, dedicating his time to history, language, and philosophy. Despite his productivity, he destroyed many of his manuscripts during his final years, doubting they would ever meet his own standards for completion.
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Wollaston’s primary contribution to philosophy was his attempt to formulate ethics without relying on revealed religion. He proposed that moral evil functioned as the practical denial of a true proposition, while moral good served as its affirmation. He believed that religious truths possessed a clarity comparable to Euclid, aiming to map moral laws with the same mathematical precision applied to the physical world. His arguments drew criticism from contemporaries like David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, and Francis Hutcheson, yet the work saw 15 imprints before 1800, with over 10,000 copies sold.
Legacy and Influence
The text reached a wide audience, notably influencing Benjamin Franklin, who worked as a compositor on one of the 1726 editions. Although Franklin eventually developed his own reservations about the book, he retained an interest in the concept of the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, the work served as a foundational textbook for the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose educational materials shaped philosophical studies at the College of Philadelphia. Wollaston died on 29 October 1724, and was interred at Great Finborough, Suffolk.
Fast facts
- Born: 26 March 1659, Staffordshire
- Died: 29 October 1724, London
- Education: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
- Major Work: The Religion of Nature Delineated
- Marital Status: Married Catharine Charlton in 1689
- Burial Site: Great Finborough, Suffolk
- Languages Studied: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew
Questions readers ask
What was the central argument of The Religion of Nature Delineated?
Wollaston argued that moral evil is the practical denial of a true proposition, and that ethical laws could be induced through a mathematical model.
Did William Wollaston participate in public life?
After 1688, he withdrew from public employment to focus on private research and writing in London, declining to hold official positions.
How did Benjamin Franklin interact with Wollaston's work?
Franklin worked as a compositor for a 1726 edition of the book and initially wrote a response to it, though he later distanced himself from the material.
