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WHAT MATTER MATTERS: BODY, SPIRIT, AND VITAL MOTION IN ANNE CONWAY'S METAPHYSICS
Wu, Yining
Wu, Yining
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Thesis/Dissertation
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2025-08
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Philosophy
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https://doi.org/10.34944/0760-2d65
Abstract
We often view matter as inert stuff, lacking sensitivity or responsiveness, and seemingly “dead” in contrast to living organisms—for instance, consider the difference between a solid stone and a cat on the prowl. But should we? In my dissertation, entitled What Matter Matters? Corporeality and Spirituality in Conway’s Metaphysics, I investigate the metaphysics and natural philosophy of Lady Anne Conway, the understudied seventeenth-century English female philosopher. In her Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1690), Conway questions the common idea of matter. She critically engages with the philosophy of canonical thinkers such as Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, and Henry More. One popular belief among these philosophers is that lifeless matter and living spirit are two distinct elements, while the generation of various creatures is based on the interaction between the two elements. According to Conway, this way of understanding the world poses a significant conundrum: How can matter and spirit embrace each other if they are so different in nature? In response, she boldly argues that matter and spirit are just two ends of the same spectrum—“That every Body may be turned into a Spirit, and a Spirit into a Body” (The Principles, VII). The goal of my dissertation, therefore, is to give a comprehensive and interdisciplinary interpretation of the meaning of matter and spirit in Conway and locate this interpretation in its proper context. In particular, I allude to Henry More’s natural philosophy and F.M. van Helmont’s kabbalist, alchemical, and medical works, to clarify her theories of spirit and matter. I argue that while Conway seeks to construct a unified world based on the convertible nature of matter and spirit, she also emphasizes the necessary distinctions between the two elements. When describing matter, Conway uses metaphorical terms like “gross,” “dark,” and “dense,” while referring to spirit as “subtle,” “tenuous,” and “aethereal.” In addressing these metaphors, I suggest that matter is construed as a privation, or a lack of the “default” spirit. The creatures, unlike God, who is motionless and transcends temporal-spatial dimensions, possess special spiritual features that make them both sensitive and active. To move and act, creatures must retain certain bodily properties, such as impenetrability and divisibility. Conway suggests that varying compositions of matter and spirit account for the diversity of species in the world. Transformation between two species is possible only through vital motion–– a movement that occurs simultaneously in the matter and the spirit parts of a creature. By exploring these arguments, my dissertation aims to demystify certain of Conway’s puzzling descriptions and claims in The Principles, making Conway’s metaphysics more explicit and more accessible to contemporary readers, and contributing new perspectives to early modern philosophy.
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