The sovereignty of reason

The defense of rationality in the early english enlightenment This book is a survey of the rule of faith controversy in seventeenth-century England. It examines the arguments by which reason eventually became the sovereign standard of truth in religion and politics, and how it triumphed over its rivals: scripture, inspiration, and apostolic tradition. Beixer´s book is a deteiled examination of some neglected figures of early modern philosophy, who were crucial in the development of modern rationalism. There are chapters devoted to Richard Hooker, the Great Tew Circle, the Cambridge Platonists, the early ethical rationalists and the free-thinkers John Toland and Anthony Collins.