joseph glanvill (1636â1680) was an english writer, philosopher, and clergyman. not himself a scientist, he has been called "the most skillful apologist of the virtuosi", or in other words the leading propagandist for the approach of the english natural philosophers of the later 17th century.richard s. westfall, science and religion in seventeenth-century england (1973), p. 18. in 1661 he predicted :the time will come, when making use of magnetic waves that permeate the ether,...we shall communicate with [persons on the opposite side of the globe]. bradbeer, robin. a glimpse into the future of television, the guardian, 7 march 1985  ==life== he was raised in a strict puritan household, and educated at oxford university, where he graduated b.a. from exeter college in 1655, m.a. from lincoln college in 1658.galileo project pageconcise dictionary of national biography glanvill was made vicar of frome in 1662, and was a fellow of the royal society in 1664. he was rector of the abbey church at bath from 1666 to 1680, and prebendary of worcester in 1678. ==works and views== he was a latitudinarian thinker. latitudinarians generally respected the cambridge platonists, and glanvill was friendly with and much influenced by henry more, a leader in that group where glanvill was a follower.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/henry-more/ it was glanvill's style to seek out a "middle way" on contemporary philosophical issues. his writings display a variety of beliefs that may appear contradictory. there is discussion of glanvill's thought and method in basil willey's seventeenth century background (1934). ===rationality and plain talking=== he was the author of the vanity of dogmatizing (editions from 1661), which attacked scholasticism and religious persecution. it was a plea for religious toleration, the scientific method, and freedom of thought. it also contained a tale that became the material for matthew arnold's victorian poem the scholar gipsy.http://www.kingmixers.com/gypsyscholar.html glanvill was at first a cartesian, but shifted his ground a little, engaging with scepticism and proposing a modification in scepsis scientifica (1665), a revision and expansion of the vanity of dogmatizing. it started with an explicit "address to the royal society"; the society responded by electing him as fellow. he continued in a role of spokesman for his type of limited sceptical approach, and the society's production of useful knowledge.richard h. popkin (editor), the p
1636_births 1680_deaths Alumni_of_Exeter_College,_Oxford Alumni_of_Lincoln_College,_Oxford Cambridge_Platonists Christian_philosophers Demonologists Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Witch_hunting