Conclusion: The Cambridge Platonists as Early Modern Christian Platonists

Summary

This concluding chapter offers some final thoughts on the nature of Cambridge Platonism in light of the analysis provided in the main body of the book. It is argued that while there are real and significant differences in the way each of the Cambridge Platonists engage with Platonic ideas and texts, they share a core set of distinctive philosophical intuitions that set them apart quite clearly as a distinct school of Christian Platonists. It is this philosophical framework that binds Whichcote, More, Cudworth and Smith together into a coherent group of philosophers, even when the diversity of their motivations and intellectual orientations are taken into account.