Richard Burthogge facts for kids
Richard Burthogge (born 1637 or 1638, died 1705) was an important person from Devon, England. He was a physician (doctor), a magistrate (like a judge), and a philosopher (a deep thinker). Sometimes his name was written as Borthoge or Burthog.
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His Life Journey
Richard Burthogge's father was a captain in the army in Plymouth. Richard was born in 1637 or 1638. He went to Exeter Grammar School. Later, he studied at All Souls College, Oxford, and then Lincoln College, Oxford. He earned his first degree in 1658.
He continued his studies at the University of Leiden in 1661. There, he wrote a special paper called a doctoral thesis. It was about kidney stones and gallstones. He finished this paper in 1662.
Working as a Doctor and Judge
After his studies, Burthogge came back to England. He worked as a doctor near Totnes. He lived for many years at Bowden House, which belonged to his sister's husband.
Richard Burthogge was known for being fair to everyone. He even treated Catholics well, which was unusual for his time. He was likely a Non-Conformist himself. This meant he didn't follow the main Church of England.
He became a Justice of the Peace, which is a local judge. He held this important job under two kings: King James II and King William III.
His Family Life
Richard Burthogge was married at least three times. His first wife was Sarah Trevill. He wrote some of his books and dedicated them to her. Later, he married Mary Deeble. With her, he published more books about religion and philosophy. Two of these books were dedicated to another famous thinker, John Locke.
Richard had three daughters: Sarah, Mary, and Ann. Ann passed away before her father. She had a young son named Richard Babbage. This Richard Babbage was the ancestor of Charles Babbage, who is famous for being a pioneer in computers!
At the time of his death in 1705, Richard Burthogge was married to Honour. He was buried in Totnes.
His Ideas and Beliefs
Richard Burthogge was a deep thinker. In his writings about philosophy and religion, he often agreed with John Locke. However, he also had some different ideas. He strongly believed in religious toleration. This means he thought people should be free to practice their own religion without being punished.
He believed that we gain knowledge through our experiences. This idea is called empiricism. He did not believe that people are born with certain ideas already in their minds. He also had some unique ideas about the nature of reality, which is called metaphysics.
What He Wrote
Here are some of the books and papers Richard Burthogge wrote:
- Divine Goodness explicated and vindicated from the Exceptions of the Atheist (1670)
- Causa Dei, or an Apology for God (1675)
- Organum vetus et novum, or Discourse on Reason and Truth (1678)
- An Argument for Infants’ Baptism (1683)
- Vindiciae Paedo-Baptismi (1685)
- Prudential Reasons for repealing the Penal Laws against all Recusants (1687)
- The Nature of Church-Government (1691)
- Essay upon Reason and the Nature of Spirits (1694)
- Of the Soul of the World; and of Particular Souls (1699)
- Christianity a Revealed Mystery (1702)
