SOURCE: Voitle, Robert. “The Patterns of Shaftesbury's Later Thought 1704-1713.” In The Third Earl of Shaftesbury, 1671-1713, pp. 313-66. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1984.

In this excerpt, Voitle discusses Shaftesbury's philosophical works after 1700, which he argues are heavily influenced by Platonic idealism but also stress the importance of the creative imagination.

Before considering Shaftesbury's Philosophical Rhapsody it would be well to see where it lies among his more serious studies. His earliest printed philosophical work is his preface to the Select Sermons of Benjamin Whichcote published in 1698. He must have begun this after Thomas Firmin's death the previous year. In 1699 An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit was published by Toland, but as we have seen there is evidence that Shaftesbury began working on it and probably completed it long before he wrote the preface to Whichcote. Still another reason for assuming that the Inquiry is early...