Joseph Raphson's Pantheos
The life of Joseph Raphson (1648 - 1715) is one that is shrouded in mystery and rather difficult to follow. In fact, no obituary of Raphson appears to have been written and the details of his life and accomplishments can only be found in records, such as those kept at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society. Born in Middlesex, England in 1648, it is known from such records that Joseph Raphson went to Jesus College Cambridge and graduated with a Master of Arts in 1692. As a rather older student (43 years old), Raphson was surprisingly made a member of the Royal Society in 1691, a year before his graduation. This honor was a direct result of his book published in 1690, entitled, Analysis aequationum universalis. This book focused primarily on the Newton method for approximating roots of an equation, hence the Newton-Raphson Method.
Raphson's greatest historical contribution was the development of pantheism in his theological works De spatio reali and Demonstratio de deo. In these works, Raphson freely expressed his philosophy, which based its structure and ideals upon the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah. Raphson created the word "pantheos" from Greek pan "all" and theos "god" to refer to the all-containing and all-penetrating impersonal God. He referred to this belief as "pantheismus", which was translated by John Toland as "pantheism". De spatio reali was a work which dealt with Raphson's vision of space, called 'real space'. He thought of space as being independent of the mind that perceives it. In this work, he also discussed the infinite (potential and actual) and motion in space, where space is said to be infinite, but the objects in it are finite. Raphson agreed with Spinoza in attributing to God all that is infinite, but he did not identify God with matter. Matter is characterised by Raphson by its mobility and impenetrability. Space is defined as absolutely indivisible and immovable. Space is all-containing and all-penetrating. It is infinite space which he identified as Ein Soph, the impersonal Divine Being.
Raphson's pantheism describes God as Ultimate Reality, the overarching element of the cosmos. Raphson called followers of this view ‘pantheists’ because they believe in “a certain universal substance, material as well as intelligent, that fashions all things that exist out of its own essence” (De Spatio Reali,” page 2). “Space is this necessary, eternal, infinite and omnipresent being...” says Jonathan Edwards, a like-minded thinker of that time, “... we can with ease conceive how all other beings should not be. We can remove them out of our minds, and place some other in the room of them; but space is the very thing we can never remove and conceive of its not being. ...But I had as good speak plain: I have already said as much as that space is God.”
Raphson’s idea of God shows the influence of fellow Cambridge Platonist philosopher Henry More (1614 - 1687). More wrote that God is “antecedent to all matter, forasmuch as not matter nor any being else can be conceived to be but in this. In this are all things necessarily apprehended ‘to live and move and have their being.’” Raphson was also deeply influenced by Kabbalah, which “asserted a certain oneness between God and the universe,” according to Kabbalah scholar Ken Hanson.
Raphson demonstrated the inner connection between space and God by identifying infinity with highest perfection and transforming extension itself into perfection. God is the Supreme Being and Ultimate Reality of the universe, omnipresent, infinite and eternal. Raphson considered the universe immeasurable in respect to our human capacity of understanding, and that we shall never be able to comprehend it. He believed that they universe contained a plurality of earth like worlds with various creatures produced by an Infinite Architect. Reference: From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe by Alexandre Koyre.
Raphson's greatest historical contribution was the development of pantheism in his theological works De spatio reali and Demonstratio de deo. In these works, Raphson freely expressed his philosophy, which based its structure and ideals upon the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah. Raphson created the word "pantheos" from Greek pan "all" and theos "god" to refer to the all-containing and all-penetrating impersonal God. He referred to this belief as "pantheismus", which was translated by John Toland as "pantheism". De spatio reali was a work which dealt with Raphson's vision of space, called 'real space'. He thought of space as being independent of the mind that perceives it. In this work, he also discussed the infinite (potential and actual) and motion in space, where space is said to be infinite, but the objects in it are finite. Raphson agreed with Spinoza in attributing to God all that is infinite, but he did not identify God with matter. Matter is characterised by Raphson by its mobility and impenetrability. Space is defined as absolutely indivisible and immovable. Space is all-containing and all-penetrating. It is infinite space which he identified as Ein Soph, the impersonal Divine Being.
Raphson's pantheism describes God as Ultimate Reality, the overarching element of the cosmos. Raphson called followers of this view ‘pantheists’ because they believe in “a certain universal substance, material as well as intelligent, that fashions all things that exist out of its own essence” (De Spatio Reali,” page 2). “Space is this necessary, eternal, infinite and omnipresent being...” says Jonathan Edwards, a like-minded thinker of that time, “... we can with ease conceive how all other beings should not be. We can remove them out of our minds, and place some other in the room of them; but space is the very thing we can never remove and conceive of its not being. ...But I had as good speak plain: I have already said as much as that space is God.”
Raphson’s idea of God shows the influence of fellow Cambridge Platonist philosopher Henry More (1614 - 1687). More wrote that God is “antecedent to all matter, forasmuch as not matter nor any being else can be conceived to be but in this. In this are all things necessarily apprehended ‘to live and move and have their being.’” Raphson was also deeply influenced by Kabbalah, which “asserted a certain oneness between God and the universe,” according to Kabbalah scholar Ken Hanson.
Raphson demonstrated the inner connection between space and God by identifying infinity with highest perfection and transforming extension itself into perfection. God is the Supreme Being and Ultimate Reality of the universe, omnipresent, infinite and eternal. Raphson considered the universe immeasurable in respect to our human capacity of understanding, and that we shall never be able to comprehend it. He believed that they universe contained a plurality of earth like worlds with various creatures produced by an Infinite Architect. Reference: From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe by Alexandre Koyre.