The Cambridge School of Thought, with its roots in the European Renaissance and the scientific discoveries of the 16th and 17th centuries, was a revolutionary force in the development of Western civilization. At its heart, the Cambridge school was a combination of two distinctive philosophies. The first was a rationalist agenda that emphasized the use of reason, experimentation and observation to understand the natural world. The second was a utilitarian ethos that argued for the practical application of knowledge to improve human life.
As its name suggests, the Cambridge school of thought began at the University of Cambridge in England. Early members of the movement included such renowned figures as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. On the surface, the Cambridge school may have appeared to be a party of the same ilk as their contemporaries in Europe: they were deeply concerned with the prospect of social and political reform based on the ideals of the Enlightenment. But beneath the surface, the members of the movement had a distinctly different approach to their work. Unlike the Enlightenment philosophers, the Cambridge school embraced hard-nosed empiricism, eschewing grand metaphysical speculation and instead concentrating on observation, experimentation and the use of deductive reasoning.
This emphasis on the use of scientific method was the hallmark of the Cambridge school. Francis Bacon, for example, believed that knowledge should be acquired through rigorous observation and experimentation and then formulated into general principles. Thomas Hobbes argued that the proper method of inquiry should involve the systematic application of reliable methods of reasoning, based on evidence-gathering and experimentation. John Locke, meanwhile, proposed what he called a “Tabula Rasa” – a clean slate or starting point for our understanding of the world based on experience and empirical data.
In addition to its focus on empiricism, the Cambridge school also championed the utilitarian use of knowledge. Thomas Hobbes championed an economic philosophy centered around a “Monetary Policy” – the notion that money should be made available to the public in order to promote economic growth. In fact, many of the central ideas of modern economics can be traced back to the work of Cambridge school members. Likewise, John Locke argued that knowledge should be used to enhance the lives of everyday people by improving their health, providing education, and furthering the development of technology.
Finally, the Cambridge school sought to bring order out of what had been a tumultuous and often chaotic period in Western history. Thomas Hobbes championed the idea of a strong and powerful state that could impose a degree of structure and stability on society. Meanwhile, the empiricist approach of the Cambridge school provided a type of mental framework that could organize and simplify the complexities of the universe. This unification of the physical and mental realms of knowledge was a major step forward in the intellectual history of the West.
The Cambridge school was one of the most influential philosophical movements of the Western world. The ideas of the movement – empiricism, utilitarianism, and the pursuit of order and knowledge – are still very much part of the Western intellectual tradition today. The work of the Cambridge school continues to shape our understanding of the world and our engagement with it.
