Publication: New edition of Margaret Cavendish’s Grounds of Natural Philosophy

Broadview Press has recently published a new edition of Margaret Cavendish’s Grounds of Natural Philosophy, edited by Anne M. Thell.

This edition aims to make Margaret Cavendish’s most mature philosophical work more accessible to students and scholars of the period. Grounds of Natural Philosophy is important not only because it is Cavendish’s final articulation of her metaphysics but also because it succinctly outlines her fundamental views on “the nature of nature”—or the base substance and mechanics of all natural matter—and vividly demonstrates her probabilistic approach to philosophical enquiry. Moreover, Grounds spends considerable time discussing the human body, including the functions of the mind, a topic of growing interest to both historians of philosophy and literary scholars. This Broadview Edition opens to modern readers a vibrant, unique, and provocative voice of the past that challenges our standard view of seventeenth-century English philosophy.

ANZAMEMS members interested in obtaining an electronic exam copy of the edition for potential course adoption or review are encouraged to contact Assistant Humanities Editor of Broadview Press, Tara Bodie.