Richard Cumberland

Background

Richard Cumberland was born in London, United Kingdom on July 15, 1631.

Education

He was educated at St. Paul's School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he obtained his B. A. degree in 1653, his M. A. in 1656, and was elected a fellow of the college.

Career

In 1658 he was presented with the living of Brampton, Northamptonshire, and three years later was legally instituted at Cambridge, becoming one of twelve Cambridge preachers. He was given a living in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1667. Partly in recognition of Cumberland's ardent Protestantism, William III appointed him Bishop of Peterborough in 1691. His De legibus naturae disquisitio philosophica (1672) sets up a utilitarian criterion for morality in opposition to Hobbes's egoism and argues for the supremacy of the public good over the individual good, maintaining that the source of morality lies in universal benevolence. Cumberland's study of Jewish antiquities led to An Essay Towards the Recovery of Jewish Measures and Weights (1686) and Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History (1720). He was a friend of Samuel Pepys and of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Keeper of the Great Seal. He died in Peterborough on October 9, 1718.

Achievements

He was a philosopher and divine. In 1672, he published his major work, De legibus naturae (On natural laws), propounding utilitarianism and opposing the egoistic ethics of Thomas Hobbes.

Views

The philosophy of Cumberland is expounded in De legibus naturae. Its main design is to combat the principles which Hobbes had promulgated as to the constitution of man, the nature of morality, and the origin of society, and to prove that self-advantage is not the chief end of man, that force is not the source of personal obligation to moral conduct nor the foundation of social rights, and that the state of nature is not a state of war. The views of Hobbes seem to Cumberland utterly subversive of religion, morality and civil society. He endeavours, as a rule, to establish directly antagonistic propositions. He refrains, however, from denunciation, and is a fair opponent up to the measure of his insight.

Membership

Cumberland was a member of the Latitudinarian movement.

Connections

In 1607 Cumberland married to Anne Quinsey.

Spouse:: Anne Quinsey
Friend:: Sir Orlando Bridgeman

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