Whose Grounds Pave the Path: Cavendish's Grounds of Natural Philosophy
Margaret Cavendish, England, 1668 In her 1668 commentary on the nature of nature itself, Grounds of Natural Philosophy , Margaret Cavendish identifies and connects the essential characteristics of the world around her, while responding to the increasingly popular natural scientists in England at the time, such as Robert Boyle and Francis Bacon. After attending many public displays put on by other natural philosophers, Cavendish saw various flaws in their logic. She acknowledges them through her writing, though gender expectations and restrictions keep her from gaining publicity in the space of the “official” scientists. First referencing Descartes’ dualism, she separates the material and the immaterial, the rational and the sensitive, and the regular and irregular. Through distinguishing the differences between manmade material and naturally occurring, unpredictable material, Cavendish comes to the conclusion that both are ever changing and ever intertwined. Perhaps out of true religio...