[ Priestley, Joseph ]. Purves, James.

Observations on Doctor Priestley’s Doctrines of Philosophical Necessity and Materialism.

Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas Dobson... 1797. One of three Philadelphia editions printed in the same year. Very good. Disbound. Twelvemo. 244 pp. Item #14338

Purves (1734-1795) was a Universalist preacher who held an Arian position that Christ, with a pre-existent human soul, was first born of all creation. He was troubled by Joseph Priestley’s writings on free will and the nature of the soul. In 1790 he came out
with the book, Some Observations on Socinian Arguments, which attacks the ideas of Priestley and his followers. In the present work, he attacks Priestley more directly, and especially Priestley’s 1777 book, The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity.

Price: $500.00