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William Wollaston (; 26 March 1659 – 29 October 1724) was school teacher, a Church of England priest, a scholar of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, a theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, which he completed only two years before his death: ''(The Religion of Nature Delineated )'' (1st ed. 1722; 2nd ed. 1724). Yet despite his cloistered life and his single book, due to his influence on eighteenth-century philosophy and his promotion of a Natural Religion, he may be considered one of the great British Enlightenment philosophers, along with Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. His work contributed to the development of two important intellectual schools: British Deism, and "the pursuit of happiness" moral philosophy of American Practical Idealism. It appears notably in the ''Declaration of Independence''. ==Life== Wollaston was born at Coton Clanford in Staffordshire, on 26 March 1659. He was born to a family long-established in Staffordshire, and was distantly related to Sir John Wollaston, the Alderman and Lord Mayor of London.〔John Clarke, (A Preface ''containing'' A General Account of the Life, Character, and Writings of the ''Author'' ), ''The Religion of Nature Delineated'', 1750 ed.〕 However, his family was not wealthy. At the age of ten, he began school at a Latin school newly opened in Shenstone, Staffordshire, and continued in country free schools until he was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, at the age of 15, in June 1674. From his writings it is clear that he was an excellent scholar, "extremely well versed" in languages and literature.〔Altmann, Alexander, "William Wollaston (1659–1724): English Deist and Rabbinic Scholar", ''Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England)'', Vol. 16, (1945–1951), pp. 185–211〕 In his last year at Cambridge, Wollaston published anonymously a small book, ''On the Design of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Unreasonableness of Men's Restless Contention for the Present Enjoyments, represented in an English Poem'' (London, 1691). Apparently embarrassed by his own work, Wollaston almost immediately suppressed it. After leaving Cambridge in September 1681, he became an assistant master at King Edward's School, Birmingham and took holy orders. At this time, he became Perpetual curate of St Mary's Church, Moseley from 1684 – 1686. In 1688 an uncle left him a fortune and an estate at Shenton Hall, Leicestershire, and in November of the same year he settled in London. On 26 November 1689, he married the wealthy Catharine Charlton. They had eleven children together, four of whom died within his lifetime. They lived happily together for 30 years, until Catharine's death on 21 July 1720. In London, Wollaston devoted himself to private study of learning and philosophy, seldom leaving the city and declining to accept any public employment. In retirement, he published ''The Religion of Nature Delineated'' (1722) in a private edition. He wrote extensively on language, philosophy, religion, and history, but in the last few years of his life, he committed most of his manuscripts to the flames, as his health worsened and he began to feel that he would never be able to complete them to his satisfaction. Wollaston suffered from fragile health throughout his life. Just after completing ''The Religion of Nature Delineated'', he broke his arm in an accident, and his strength declined and illnesses increased until his death on 29 October 1724. His body was carried to Great Finborough in Suffolk, where he was buried beside his wife. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Wollaston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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