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Toland, John

Born Nov. 30, 1670, near Londonderry, Northern Ireland; died Mar. 11, 1722, in Putney, near London. British materialist philosopher.

Toland attended the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leiden, as well as Oxford University. In the lost essay “The Lev-ite Tribe” (1691) and in the book Christianity Not Mysterious (1696), Toland voiced his opposition to the Christian religion and church. The book was burned in 1697 on charges that it attacked religion and morality. Sentenced to imprisonment, Toland fled. Subsequently he wrote a biography of J. Milton (1699) and brought out works by the English republican J. Harrington (1700). Persecuted for his philosophical and political views, Toland was forced to wander and live in poverty.

In his main philosophical work, Letters to Serena (1704), Toland argued for the unity of motion and matter; motion, according to his theory, is an integral and inalienable property of matter. Subjecting Spinoza’s ideas on substance and Newton’s concept of absolute space to critical examination, Toland advanced the thesis that space and time are inseparably bound to moving matter. Toland’s advocacy of materiality as a property of the eternal and infinite universe was a significant contribution to the development of philosophical materialism.

Toland’s thesis that matter is endowed with self-movement—primal activity being inherent in matter—contains elements of dialectics. At the same time, Toland stayed within the framework of mechanistic materialism: he rejected chance, and he made no connection between the movement of matter and its qualitative changes. With his deistic criticism of the religious world view, which embraces religious dogmas and cults, Toland came close to atheism. His ideas greatly influenced the 18th-century French materialists as well as A. N. Radishchev.

WORKS

The Miscellaneous Works, vols. 1–2. London, 1747.
In Russian translation:
In Angliiskie materialisty XVIII v., vol. 1. Moscow, 1967.

REFERENCES

Meerovskii, B. V. “Angliiskii materializm XVIII v.” In Angliiskie materialisty XVIII v., vol. 1. Moscow, 1967.
Dzhokhadze, D. V. “Dzh. Toland.” In Istoriia dialektiki XIV-XVIII vv. Moscow, 1974.
Lantoine, A. J. Toland, 1670–1722. Paris, 1927.

B. V. MEEROVSKII

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No references found	Scholars of philosophy, of history, or of history of philosophy consider such topic as reactions to Spinoza in Germany around 1700, French royal censorship and the battle to suppress the Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alembert 1751-59, the breakdown of censorship and the modes of printed discourse during the English Civil War, John Toland and the censorship of atheism, and G. The use of censorship in the Enlightenment by Reference & Research Book News Pulitzer Prize (NONFICTION) The Rising Sun The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 By John Toland Toland, a military historian, offers a definitive history of Japan during World War II from the perspective of the Japanese--from the invasion of China to the war in the Pacific theater to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Year in books: a look back at books that captured our attention by Bookmarks The limited partnerships bought their respective pieces of the project from John Toland Co. Ridgeview recycled by Waldon, George / Arkansas Business	John Ross John Rushworth Jellicoe John Ruskin John Scott Haldane John Scotus John Selden John Simon John Singer Sargent John Singleton Copley John Skylitses John Sloan John Somerville John Stanley Plaskett John Strachey John Stuart Bute John Stuart Mill John Tanner State Park John the Apostle, Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist, Saint John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist John the Fearless John Thomas Dunlop John Thomas Whitehead Mitchell John Toland John Trumbull John Tukey John Turberville Needham John Tyndall John U. Lloyd Beach State Park John Updike John V John V Palaeologus John Venn John VI John VI Cantacuzenus John VII John VIII John VIII Palaeologus John Vincent Atanasoff John von Neumann John W. Kyle State Park John Wain John Wallis John Warcup Cornforth John Watts Young John Webster John Wesley Powell John Wild River John Wilkes	John the Fearless John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy John the Forerunner John the Forerunner John the Fortunate John the Fortunate John the Good John the Good John the Great John the Great John the Revelator John the Savage John the Savage John the Scot John the Theologian John the Theologian John the White Rapper John Thomas John Thomas John Thomas (disambiguation) John Thomas Dunlop John Thomas Dye School John Thomas Experience John Thomas Miner John Thomas Scopes John Thomas Whitehead Mitchell John Thrumbull John Thrumbull John Titor John Todd Ecological Design John Toland John Toland (philosopher) John Tonkin Water Centre John Torrey John Tradescant John Travolta John Trigg Ester Library John Troelstrup Land Surveying John Trumbull John Trumbull John Trumbull (painter) John Trumbull (painter) John Tukey John Turberville Needham John Turchin John Turgeson Public Library John Tuzo Wilson John Tyler John Tyler John Tyler John Tyler Community College John Tyler Elementary School John Tyler, Jr. John Tyndal John Tyndal John Tyndall John Tyndall John U. Lloyd Beach State Park John Uhler John Uhler Lemmon III

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Scholars of philosophy, of history, or of history of philosophy consider such topic as reactions to Spinoza in Germany around 1700, French royal censorship and the battle to suppress the Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alembert 1751-59, the breakdown of censorship and the modes of printed discourse during the English Civil War, John Toland and the censorship of atheism, and G.

The use of censorship in the Enlightenment by Reference & Research Book News

Pulitzer Prize (NONFICTION) The Rising Sun The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 By John Toland Toland, a military historian, offers a definitive history of Japan during World War II from the perspective of the Japanese--from the invasion of China to the war in the Pacific theater to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Year in books: a look back at books that captured our attention by Bookmarks

The limited partnerships bought their respective pieces of the project from John Toland Co.

Ridgeview recycled by Waldon, George / Arkansas Business

John the Fearless
John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
John the Forerunner
John the Forerunner
John the Fortunate
John the Fortunate
John the Good
John the Good
John the Great
John the Great
John the Revelator
John the Savage
John the Savage
John the Scot
John the Theologian
John the Theologian
John the White Rapper
John Thomas
John Thomas
John Thomas (disambiguation)
John Thomas Dunlop
John Thomas Dye School
John Thomas Experience
John Thomas Miner
John Thomas Scopes
John Thomas Whitehead Mitchell
John Thrumbull
John Thrumbull
John Titor
John Todd Ecological Design

John Toland

John Toland (philosopher)
John Tonkin Water Centre
John Torrey
John Tradescant
John Travolta
John Trigg Ester Library
John Troelstrup Land Surveying
John Trumbull
John Trumbull
John Trumbull (painter)
John Trumbull (painter)
John Tukey
John Turberville Needham
John Turchin
John Turgeson Public Library
John Tuzo Wilson
John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler Community College
John Tyler Elementary School
John Tyler, Jr.
John Tyndal
John Tyndal
John Tyndall
John Tyndall
John U. Lloyd Beach State Park
John Uhler
John Uhler Lemmon III