SOURCE: Grean, Stanley. “Enthusiasm” and “Concluding Remarks.” In Shaftesbury's Philosophy of Religion and Ethics: A Study in Enthusiasm, pp. 19-36; 258-63. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1967.

In the first of the following essays, Grean explores the background and significance of Shaftesbury's central doctrine of enthusiasm and discusses how it is related to his religious concepts; in the second, he offers an overview of Shaftesbury's thought, viewing him as a poet rather than a philosopher because of his belief that reason ought to be transcended to reach higher truths.

Enthusiasm

In a letter to a friend, Shaftesbury once wrote, “You know me for a great enthusiast. …”¹ Despite this self-admission, and despite the frequent discussions of enthusiasm in his writings, one finds that Anglo-American scholars have on the whole failed to recognize the central place of love and enthusiasm in Shaftesbury's thought. This is true even of such reputable scholars...