Ralph Cudworth was the leading philosopher of the group of philosophical divines known as the Cambridge Platonists. Cudworth's philosophical reputation rests on his two major works, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; Wherein, All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism Is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated (1678) and A Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality (1731). In philosophy he was an opponent of Thomas Hobbes and a forebear of John Locke. He is best remembered for his moral philosophy. In his own day he sought an accommodation between the new natural philosophy of his time and religion. In theology he was a moderate who contributed significantly to the mainstream of tolerationist thought. He was also one of the first philosophers to write consistently in English.

Cudworth was the third son of Ralph Cudworth and his wife, Mary Machell. He was born in Aller, Somerset, in 1617, where...