by Arthur O. Lovejoy (Author)
Originally published in 1961. Arthur O. Lovejoy, beginning with his book The Great Chain of Being, helped usher in the discipline of the History of Ideas in America. In Reflections on Human Nature, Lovejoy devotes particular attention to influential figures such as Hobbes, Locke, Bishop Butler, and Mandeville, tracing developments and changes in the concept of human nature through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He also discusses the theory of human nature held by the founders of the American Constitution, giving special attention to James Madison and the "Federalist Papers."
Author Biography
Arthur O. Lovejoy was, at the time of his death in 1962, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Among his many books are The Great Chain of Being, Essays in the History of Ideas, The Reason, the Understanding, and Time, and The Thirteen Pragmatisms and Other Essays.