The Cambridge Platonists Trigger Pattern In Xvii Century

Abstract

This paper covers some issues concerning trigger and innovation barriers mechanisms in historical, cultural, and sociological processes. The idea of some triggering moments in the historical process does not seem to be only of minor importance anymore. We should bear in mind that various trigger effects while competing, cause various trends which could be more or less productive in begetting social and epistemological trends. This paper intends to cover some trends in New Modern Times period within the activity typical of the Cambridge Platonists School during the seventeenth century. Our intention in this paper is to demonstrate, that the common view of the Cambridge Platonists group as of some counterproductive force is not entirely true. We hold in here that the group should be regarded as some counter balancing trend rather than a bunch of purely mistaking retrogrades. The Cambridge Platonists we are about to demonstrate in this paper are of special interest for describing trigger effects as they are termed by the scholars as “the third component in western culture”. We could conclude that as their position as a moderator in various matters in science, philosophy, theology and even politics provided this group the best set of possibilities to compare and juxtapose many faceted trends of intellectual activity in XVII century. Their activity was of both spurring and limiting kind, enabling the thinkers of that period be more critical and not to omit the broad outlook in that turmoil of the XVII century.