The Newtonian Magi
The Newtonian Magi
This chapter shows the steady decline of the occult by the year 1715, and the few influential men within the English intellectual elite who longed to resuscitate it and appropriate it in ways that were compatible with natural philosophy. The period after 1715 was the age of glory for Sir Isaac Newton and his disciples, known as Newtonians. Philosophical and scientific discourse were dominated by the Newtonians until the 1760s. They endeavored to reshape the entire British cultural landscape to accord with Sir Isaac Newton's genius. Since the master was unforthcoming and often enigmatic about the larger implications of his work, Newtonians were relatively free to interpret what it all meant, and they went about it with passion—questioning prodigies or wonders, deriding popular “superstitions,” and scorning magical explanations.
Keywords: decline of occult, English intellectual elite, natural philosophy, Newtonians, British cultural landscape, Sir Isaac Newton, popular superstitions, magical explanations
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