Platonism at the Origins of Modernity [electronic resource] : Studies on Platonism and Early Modern Philosophy / edited by Douglas Hedley, Sarah Hutton.

Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464): Platonism at the Dawn of Modernity -- At Variance: Marsilio Ficino, Platonism and Heresy -- Going Naked into the Shrine: Herbert, Plotinus and the Constructive Metaphor -- Comenius, Light Metaphysics and Educational Reform -- Robert Fludd's Kabbalistic Cosmos -- Reconciling Theory and Fact: The Problem of 'Other Faiths' in Lord Herbert and the Cambridge Platonists -- Trinity, Community and Love: Cudworth's Platonism and the Idea of God -- Chaos and Order in Cudworth's Thought -- Cudworth, Prior and Passmore on the Autonomy of Ethics -- Substituting Aristotle: Platonic Themes in Dutch Cartesianism -- Soul, Body and World: Plato's Timaeus and Descartes' Meditations -- Locke, Plato and Platonism -- Reflections on Locke's Platonism -- The Platonism at the Core of Leibniz's Philosophy -- Leibniz and Berkeley: Platonic Metaphysics and 'The Mechanical Philosophy' -- Which Platonism for Which Modernity? A Note on Shaftesbury's Socratic Sea-Cards -- Platonism, Aesthetics and the Sublime at the Origins of Modernity.

This collection of essays offers an overview of the range and breadth of Platonic philosophy in the early modern period, examining both the philosophers of Platonic tradition (e.g. Cusanus, Ficino, and Cudworth), and the impact of Platonism on major philosophers of the period (especially Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Shaftesbury and Berkeley). By demonstrating the vitality of the Platonic tradition in the period this collection challenges the received view that Platonism made little or no contribution in the emergence of modern philosophy.