An imagined gathering
1685 · Amsterdam, Netherlands
In exile, Locke argues for toleration with Leibniz and Newton, and finds the limits of his own principle.
Locke is living quietly in Amsterdam, out of reach of the English court, and writing the Letter Concerning Toleration. Leibniz is passing through on diplomatic business, and Newton has come to the continent for reasons of his own.
The three of them talk about what a state may require of a conscience. Locke argues for a wide liberty of belief and worship; Leibniz, whose patron is Catholic, wonders whether toleration can extend to those who would not tolerate others; Newton, whose private theology is decidedly unorthodox, has the most to lose and says the least. They eat an eel pie, a pease pottage, and a syllabub, and Locke's principle comes out of the evening with a few new qualifications.
Host: John Locke
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — Catholic courtier, testing the limits of a Protestant argument.
Isaac Newton — In exile from controversy of his own, and careful with his words.
Main
a period dish
First course
a period dish
First course
a period dish
John Locke
Locke's account of government as a trust held from the people, revocable when it fails them.
John Locke
Life, liberty, and property as claims that precede government and that government exists to protect.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Leibniz's picture of mind and body as two clocks set by God to keep perfect time without ever touching.
This gathering is an editorial recreation grounded in the biographies of those present; it did not necessarily take place as described.