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Margaret Cavendish: Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

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Eileen O'Neill's annotated, unabridged edition of Margaret Cavendish's Observations on Experimental Philosophy, (part of the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy Series), is a solid contribution to the history of metaphysics. It has not appeared in print since its second edition in 1668. While considerable work on Cavendish as a literary writer, e.g. her letters, poems and plays, has been done in recent years, less has been done on her work in metaphysics. O'Neill's labors will undoubtedly change this fact. This modern edition makes this work accessible to scholars in the history of philosophy and philosophy of science. It offers critical annotations which situate and clarify this work for the modern scholar, although it may be the case that not enough is said about Cavendish's reliance upon the Scholastics. However, O'Neill does a more than respectable job cross-referencing Cavendish's philosophical arguments with classic specialists of the period in philosophy of science. Readers can look forward to a helpful bibliography as well.


O'Neill's 26 page introduction details Cavendish's political and social environment so that not only her philosophical contributions are reconstituted, but also the historical circumstances surrounding them. Cavendish represents one of many female writers in the mid-seventeenth century, but is the only one to publish works in philosophy under her own name. Thus Cavendish is an important figure on several fronts. Philosophically she outlines a system of natural philosophy, which rejects Aristotle, Hobbes and Descartes. Religiously, she proposes an atheistic system of nature and politically, she calls for a platform which includes women as cognitive, rational contributors to the problems of science and philosophy. This edition of Observations will appeal to all respective disciplines.


The strength of O'Neill's introduction is her discussion of the Stoic influences on Cavendish. O'Neill has done her research to this end. While her brief overview assumes a learned fluency with this era of philosophy, and remains silent about many aspects of the Observations it can still be useful for the disciplined novice. O'Neill is able to delineate how Cavendish's materialist system of nature, with its reliance upon animate, self-moving, non-divisible bodies harkens back to Stoicism. Further, she previews concepts which mature in Cavendish's writings and carry less resemblance to Stocism such as her bifurcation of the Stoics "active principle" into the "sensitive" and the "rational". The introduction also cashes out Cavendish's primary objections to Epicurean Atomism, and her reservations regarding a mechanistic account of natural change. O'Neill takes great care with this latter issue and sets out Cavendish's main arguments. If the introductory essay lacks for anything, it is a discussion about the scholastic influences on Cavendish. The format of the Obervations is clearly reminiscent of Aquinas' Summa, with the problem-response-objection-counter response style, yet no real mention of this fact is made. However, O'Neill does not ignore this issue as is illustrated in the several footnotes which allude to the Schoolmen.


O'Neill offers good footnotes with references to figures such as Hobbes, Boyle, Aristotle, Power, Bacon, Descartes and Hooke. Often, the references are to lesser known works by these authors. Thus, it is clear that serious Cavendish scholars will need to be especially familiar with these works. In this regard, O'Neill tends to offer more detailed and frequent annotations in the sections of Cavendish's work which consider issues in early modern philosophy of science and Atomism, than she does in the considerable section Cavendish spends on the issue of the problem of perception. There is no question that this well researched, documented and annotated edition will allow the labors of Cavendish to be revisited and her voice to once again be heard.