Anne Conway

Sarah Hutton (Aberystwyth University)

Ed. by Jacqueline Eales, Canterbury Christ Church University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

Born 14 Dec 1631
Died 24 Feb 1679
Activity 1650-1679

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Philosopher

Resources

Conway's Works

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Anne Conway (née Finch) was one of a few seventeenth-century women to achieve recognition as a philosopher. Her only published work appeared posthumously in translation, first in Latin as

Principia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae

in 1690, and then in English in 1692 as

The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy

. Her only other known writings are letters, written mainly to her teacher and friend, the Cambridge Platonist, Henry More.

Anne Conway (1631-1679) was the posthumous daughter of Heneage Finch, Solicitor General, Recorder of London and Speaker of the House of Commons. Her mother, Elizabeth Cradock, raised Anne and her sister, Frances, together with four step-children from Sir Heneage’s first marriage, at the Finch home in the house that is now called

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1079 words

Citation: Hutton, Sarah. "Anne Conway". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=994, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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