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Anthony Collins (philosopher)

Anthony Collins (21 June 1676 O.S. – 13 December 1729 O.S.) was an English philosopher and essayist, notable for being one of the early proponents of Deism in Great Britain.

Life and writings
Collins was born in Heston, near Hounslow in Middlesex, England, the son of lawyer Henry Collins (1646/7–1705) and Mary (née Dineley). He had two sisters: Anne Collins (born 1678), who married Henry Lovibond (born 1675), and Mary Collins (born 1680), who married Edward Lovibond (1675–1737), a merchant and Director of the East India Company. Mary and Edward's son was the poet Edward Lovibond.

Collins was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, and studied law at the Middle Temple. The most interesting episode of his life was his intimacy with John Locke, who in his letters speaks of him with affection and admiration. In 1715 he settled in Essex, where he held the offices of justice of the peace and deputy-lieutenant, which he had previously held in Middlesex. He died at his house in Harley Street, London.

His writings gather together the results of previous English freethinkers. The imperturbable courtesy of his style is in striking contrast to the violence of his opponents; and, in spite of his unorthodoxy, he was neither an atheist nor an agnostic. In his own words, "Ignorance is the foundation of atheism, and freethinking the cure of it" (Discourse of Freethinking, 105).

Essay concerning the Use of Reason
His first notable work was his Essay concerning the Use of Reason in Propositions the Evidence whereof depends on Human Testimony (1707), in which he rejected the distinction between "above reason" and "contrary to reason", and demanded that revelation should conform to man's natural ideas of God. Like all his works, it was published anonymously, although the identity of the author was never long concealed.

A Discourse of Freethinking
Six years later appeared his chief work, A Discourse of Freethinking, occasioned by the Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers (1713). Notwithstanding the ambiguity of its title, and the fact that it attacks the priests of all churches without moderation, it contends for the most part, at least explicitly, for no more than must be admitted by every Protestant. Freethinking is a right which cannot and must not be limited, for it is the only means of attaining a knowledge of truth, it essentially contributes to the well-being of society, and is not only permitted but enjoined by the Bible. In fact the first introduction of Christianity and the success of all missionary enterprise involve freethinking (in its etymological sense) on the part of those converted.

In England this essay, which was regarded and treated as a plea for Deism, caused a great sensation, eliciting several replies, from among others William Whiston, Bishop Hare, Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, and Richard Bentley, who, under the signature of "Phileleutherus Lipsiensis", roughly handles certain arguments carelessly expressed by Collins, but triumphs chiefly by an attack on the trivial points of scholarship, his own pamphlet being by no means faultless in this very respect. Jonathan Swift also, being satirically referred to in the book, made it the subject of a caricature.

Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion
In 1724, Collins published the treatise Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, with An Apology for Free Debate and Liberty of Writing prefixed. Ostensibly it is written in opposition to Whiston's attempt to show that the books of the Old Testament did originally contain prophecies of events in the New Testament story, but that these had been eliminated or corrupted by the Jews, and to prove that the fulfilment of prophecy by the events of Christ's life is all "secondary, secret, allegorical, and mystical," since the original and literal reference is always to some other fact. Since, further, according to him the fulfilment of prophecy is the only valid proof of Christianity, he thus secretly aims a blow at Christianity as a revelation. The canonicity of the New Testament he ventures openly to deny, on the ground that the canon could be fixed only by men who were inspired.

No less than thirty-five answers were directed against this book; the most noteworthy of which were those of Bishop Edward Chandler, Arthur Sykes and Samuel Clarke. To these, but with special reference to the work of Chandler, which maintained that a number of prophecies were literally fulfilled by Christ, Collins replied with his Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered (1727). An appendix contends against Whiston that the book of Daniel was forged in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Necessitarianism
In philosophy, Collins takes a foremost place as a defender of necessitarianism. His brief Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty (1717) has not been excelled, at all events in its main outlines, as a statement of the determinist standpoint.

He was attacked in an elaborate treatise by Samuel Clarke, in whose system the freedom of will is made essential to religion and morality. During Clarke's lifetime, fearing perhaps being branded as an enemy of religion and morality, Collins made no reply, but in 1729 he published an answer, entitled Liberty and Necessity.

Other works
Besides these works he wrote
 * A Letter to Mr Dodwell, arguing that the soul may be material, and, secondly, that if the soul be immaterial it does not follow, as Clarke had contended, that it is immortal.
 * Vindication of the Divine Attributes (1710)
 * Priestcraft in Perfection (1709), in which he asserts that the clause "the Church ... Faith" in the twentieth of the Thirty-nine Articles was inserted by fraud.

Collins became renowned as one of the best read men in England. He was a bibliophile and book collector who amassed one of the largest private libraries of the time, consisting of some 6,906 books on all subjects, but particularly favoring works on history, theology, and philosophy.

It has been argued (see Jacobson, "The England Libertarian Heritage") that Collins was the unknown author of ten of "The Independent Whig" essays.

Marriages and children
Collins married first Martha Child (1677–1703) a daughter of Sir Francis Child MP (1642–1713) and Elizabeth, (1652–1720). They had two sons both of whom died young, the eldest in infancy, the second was Anthony Collins (c. 1701 – 1723); and two daughters: Elizabeth Collins (born c. 1700) who, in 1738, married Walter Cary; and Martha Collins (c. 1700 – 1744) who, in 1741, married Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1706–1793). His second marriage was to Elizabeth Wrottesley (born c. 1680), a daughter of Walter Wrottesley, 3rd Baronet Wrottesley (1659–1712) and Eleanora, (1661–1692).

title: Anthony Collins (philosopher)


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Falkirk (council area)

Falkirk (Fawkirk ; An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one of three parts of the Central region created in 1975, which was abolished at that time. Prior to the 1975 reorganisation, the majority of the council area was part of the historic county of Stirlingshire, and a small part, namely Bo'ness and Blackness, was part of the former county of West Lothian.

The council area borders with North Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian, and, across the Firth of Forth to the northeast, Clackmannanshire and Fife. The largest town is Falkirk; other settlements, most of which surround Falkirk within 6 miles of its centre, include Bo'ness, Bonnybridge, Denny, Grangemouth, Larbert, Polmont, Shieldhill, Camelon and Stenhousemuir.

The council is led by the SNP which won 12 seats in the 2022 Council Election. The incumbent leader of is councillor Cecil Meiklejohn; the provost is Robert Bissett and the deputy provost is David Balfour.

History
The town of Falkirk was made a burgh in 1600, and was then governed by a town council (also known as the corporation) until 1975. Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts were abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and replaced with upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. A new Falkirk District was created as one of three districts within the Central Region. The new district was significantly larger than the old Falkirk burgh, covering the whole area of eight former districts and part of a ninth, which were all abolished at the same time:

From Stirlingshire: From West Lothian:
 * Central No. 2 District, excluding most of Kilsyth parish
 * Denny and Dunipace Burgh
 * Eastern No. 1 District
 * Eastern No. 2 District
 * Eastern No. 3 District
 * Falkirk Burgh
 * Grangemouth Burgh
 * Bo'ness Burgh
 * Bo'ness District

The resulting area could also be defined in terms of parishes as:
 * Airth
 * Bo'ness and Carriden
 * Denny
 * Dunipace
 * Falkirk
 * Grangemouth
 * Kilsyth: Banknock polling district only
 * Larbert
 * Muiravonside
 * Slamannan

The new district and its neighbour Stirling were together made a new Stirling and Falkirk lieutenancy area. The last Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire became the first Lord Lieutenant of Stirling and Falkirk.

Local government was reformed again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts which had been created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas. Central Region was abolished and each of the area's three districts, including Falkirk, became council areas.

Settlements
Largest settlements by population:

Political control
The first election to Falkirk District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 16 May 1975. A shadow authority was again elected in 1995 ahead of the change to council areas which came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control since 1975 has been as follows:

Falkirk District Council

Falkirk Council

Leadership
The leaders of the council since 2001 have been:

Premises
From the district council's creation in 1975, it was based at the Municipal Buildings on West Bridge Street in Falkirk, which had been built for the former Falkirk Town Council and had been formally opened on 21 January 1966. The building was part of a complex which also included a courthouse, a clinic, and an events venue and theatre called Falkirk Town Hall. Prior to 1966 the town council had been based at the old Municipal Buildings at 12–14 Newmarket Street in the town centre, which had been built in 1879.

After deciding the 1966 building was uneconomic to repair and maintain, the council vacated the Municipal Buildings in 2020 pending their demolition. The attached Falkirk Town Hall closed in 2023. Discussions on a possible replacement headquarters for the council are continuing as at 2023, with the council's offices in the meantime being distributed across several buildings throughout the area.

Elections
Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:

Wards
For the purposes of elections to Falkirk Council, the area is divided geographically into a number of wards which then elect either three or four councillors each by the Single Transferable Vote system. The electoral system of local councils in Scotland is governed by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, an Act of the Scottish Parliament which first introduced proportional representation to councils. These electoral wards are as follows:

Communities
The area is divided into 23 community council areas, eleven of which have community councils as at 2023, being those with asterisks.

 * Airth Parish*
 * Avonbridge and Standburn
 * Banknock, Haggs and Longcroft*
 * Blackness*
 * Bonnybridge
 * Bo'ness*
 * Brightons*
 * Camelon, Bantaskine and Tamfourhill*
 * Carron and Carronshore
 * Denny and District*
 * Falkirk Central
 * Falkirk South
 * Grahamston, Middlefield and Westfield
 * Grangemouth*
 * Langlees, Bainsford and New Carron
 * Larbert, Stenhousemuir and Torwood
 * Lower Braes
 * Maddiston
 * Polmont*
 * Reddingmuirhead and Wallacestone*
 * Shieldhill and California
 * Slamannan and Limerigg*
 * Whitecross

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Falkirk (council area)


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Talk:Environmental full-cost accounting

Inaccurate title
The title of this page is inaccurate. It should be "True Cost Accounting" or "Full Cost Accounting". This is just how this new bookkeeping theory is called. It's not relevant if the technique actually succeeds in measuring "true" or "full" costs; the name just indicates what the aim of the technique is. True Cost Accounting or Full Cost Accounting aims to measure the impact of production on both natural capital and on social capital, in terms of money. It does not only concern environmental impact, but also social impact. In general, it wants to take into account all the hidden costs of production that can have consequences for the value of the economy in the future. Alexisderoode (talk) 14:51, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Untitled
Text taken from public domain resources at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/fullcost/whatis.htm and other pages on the same site. The Anome 21:34 Feb 26, 2003 (UTC)

MSW
OK, what the heck does this "MSW" stand for? In context, it looks like it would stand for something like "Management of Solid Waste", but in that case, it's ridiculous to use the phrase "MSW management". It could stand for something like "Municipal Solid Waste", I suppose. But whatever it is, an initialism that's used that heavily throughout the article really out to be spelled out exactly at least once. -- John Owens 20:01 Apr 11, 2003 (UTC)

 * MSW stands for municipal solid waste--Alex 13:41, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede\ and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowledeand for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowledeand for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowledeand for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede and for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowledeand for the best allocation of cost we must used to have the knowlede of cost center

thank you

Waste management bias
This is quite ridiculous, Full cost accounting is not only about solid waste management. This article is just missing the point. Denis

 * Agreed. Either this example is considerably shortened, or it is moved somewhere else. But the definition initially given is certainly too limited for FCA. User:Anthere

Environmental full cost accounting
The title of this page and the citations used herein are highly misleading. A more appropriate title would be Environmnental Full Cost Accounting. One page 111 of the Schaltegger and Burritt text which is cited, it says "IFAC (1998: paragraphs 22 and 25) views full-cost accounting and environmental cost accounting as the same thing: 'the identification, evaluation, and allocation of conventional costs, environmental costs, and social costs...". So, the authors of the textbook are saying that ONE source says that this is what full cost accounting is. They then go on to say (on page 112) "...the term 'full cost accounting" can be misleading and has to be used with caution as it may or may not be seen to include environmental externalities (external costs). In this chapter, only internal company costs will be considered." The view that Full Cost Accounting only includes internal costs and NOT externalities is the dominant one in the field of cost accounting.  Please consult standard texts such as Horngren et al "Cost Accounting and Managerial Emphasis" or Kaplan and Atkinson, "Advanced Management Accounting" for this discussion.  I would highly encourage Wikipedia to take this page down or at the very least to change the title to Environmental Full Cost Accounting.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zmohr (talk • contribs) 18:57, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Other TYPES of Full Cost Accounting
Arguably, all FCA is 'environmental' in some sense, but forwarding the FCA article to the current EFCA article gives free reign to define ALL FCA outside the specific domain in which it could have been applied (e.g. behavioral, food systems, educational, etc.) to climate-related environmental costs of such behaviors (and other micro-measurements may actually be useful analytically. MaynardClark (talk) 18:08, 18 November 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Environmental full-cost accounting


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Osmundaceae

Osmundaceae (royal fern family) is a family of ferns containing four to six extant genera and 18–25 known species. It is the only living family of the order Osmundales in the class Polypodiopsida (ferns) or in some classifications the only order in the class Osmundopsida. This is an ancient (known from the Upper Permian) and fairly isolated group that is often known as the "flowering ferns" because of the striking aspect of the ripe sporangia in Claytosmunda, Osmunda, Osmundastrum, and Plensium (subtribe Osmundinae). In these genera the sporangia are borne naked on non-laminar pinnules, while Todea and Leptopteris (subtribe Todinae) bear sporangia naked on laminar pinnules. Ferns in this family are larger than most other ferns.

Description
The stems of Osmundaceae contain vascular tissue arranged as an ectophloic siphonostele; that is, a ring of phloem occurs on the outside only of a ring of xylem, which surrounds pith (and no other vascular tissue). Stipules can be discerned at the leaf bases of these ferns. The hardened leaf bases are persistent and overlap to form a hardened layer surrounding the stem. The mantle of sclerenchymatous leaf bases and intermixed roots can form a woody trunk when the stem emerges above ground, up to 1 m in Todea barbara. Extinct members of the family, which flourished during the Mesozoic, could reach the stature of trees and be termed tree ferns. The leaves are either holodimorphic, with separate fertile and sterile fronds assuming an entirely different structure, or have fertile and sterile portions of the frond very distinct in structure.

Sporangia in the Osmundaceae are large, and open at a slit on the top; the annulus that drives the sporangium opening is on the side. 128 to 512 spores are typically present. The spores are green, nearly round, and trilete. The spores germinate into gametophytes, which are green (photosynthetic) and grow at the surface. They are large and heart-shaped. The base chromosome number for members of the order is 22.

Taxonomy
Smith et al. (2006) carried out the first higher-level pteridophyte classification published in the molecular phylogenetic era, creating four classes of ferns (Polypodiopsida). At that time they used the term Polypodiopsida sensu stricto to apply to the largest of these. Later the term Polypodiopsida sensu lato was used to refer to all four subclasses, and the large subclass renamed Polypodiidae. This is also referred to informally as the leptosporangiate ferns. The Polypodiidae contain seven orders whose phylogenic relationship is shown in the following cladogram, where Osmundales is seen as a sister to all other members of the subclass.

Subdivision
In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification (2016) Osmundales consists of the single family Osmundaceae, six genera, and an estimated 18 species (Christenhusz and Byng give 25 species).

The three genera Osmunda, Leptopteris, and Todea were recognized as members of Osmundaceae by Smith et al. (2006) Of these, the largest genus, Osmunda, had traditionally been treated as three subgenera, Osmunda (3 species), Osmundastrum (2 species), and Plenasium (3–4 species). However, there was suspicion that the genus was not monophyletic.

The first molecular phylogeny showed that Osmunda as traditionally circumscribed was paraphyletic and that Osmunda cinnamomea, despite its morphological similarity to Osmunda claytoniana, was sister to the rest of the family. This was later confirmed by a detailed species-level phylogeny of the family by Metzgar et al. (2008) leading to the resurrection of the segregate genus Osmundastrum, by elevating it from subgenus, to contain it and render Osmunda monophyletic. Todea and Leptopteris are consistently resolved as sister groups, and Osmunda was found to contain three separate subclades corresponding to subgenera (now genera) Osmunda, Plenasium, and the recently described Claytosmunda with the single species, Osmunda claytoniana.

The following phylogram shows the relationship between the Osmundaceae genera and subtaxa, according to Metzgar et al.:

The circumscription of the order and its families was not changed, and its placement remained the same in subsequent classifications including Chase and Reveal (2009), Christenhusz et al. (2011), and Christenhusz and Chase (2014). The find of an exceptionally well preserved Jurassic fossil intermediate between genus Osmunda (as shown above) and Osmundastrum lead to a re-analysis of Metzgar et al.'s data, which revealed that the Osmundaceae root used above may be wrong and a tree-branching artefact (all other ferns are genetically very distant from the Osmundaceae), and allowing the following classification:

A molecular dating study using Metzgar et al.'s data and a comprehensive set of rhizome and leaf fossils estimated that (sub)generic differentiation within Osmundaceae started by the Triassic and was finished by the Early Cretaceous with the formation of Osmunda and Plenasium. Accordingly, the PPG I classification of 2016 continues to place Osmundales in Polypodiidae, but splits Osmunda further by elevating its subgenera to genera (Claytosmunda, Plenasium). The following cladogram reproduces the PPG I concept for the extant members of the family:

The new system was used in a comprehensive taxonomic evaluation of Osmundales rhizome fossils, who provide a polytomous key using anatomical features of Osmundaceae rhizomes and an updated ‘evolutionary’ (non-cladistic) classification of fossil and extant Osmundales (see classification concepts for groups including extinct members), which can be tentatively transferred into the following cladogram (monophyla in bold, polytomies reflect unresolved relationships)

Notes:

aMillerocaulis is a likely paraphyletic genus that includes forms ancestral to the modern Osmundaceae (classified as Osmundeae) as well as their potential sister lineages.

bThe morphology of Claytosmunda is primitive within the Osmundinae, and total evidence indicates that Osmunda and Plenasium likely evolved from a Claytosmunda-type ancestor, rendering the latter genus paraphyletic when Osmundaceae fossil should be considered. The genus comprises 12 fossil rhizome species in addition to the sole surviving species.

Evolution
Bomfleur et al. state that “Osmundales has arguably the richest and most informative fossil record of any extant group of ferns”. The order is well represented in the fossil record from the Permian onwards. Osmundalean or potentially osmundalean fern foliage including Anomopteris Brongn., Todites Seward, Cladotheca T.Halle, Osmundopsis T.M.Harris, Cacumen Cantrill & J.A.Webb, Osmunda, Damudopteris D.D.Pant & P.K.Khare, Dichotomopteris Maithy, and Cladophlebis Brongn., 1849) is commonly found from the Permian onwards together with dispersed spores such as Osmundacidites Couper and Todisporites Couper. But their affinitity to the Osmundales, and Osmundaceae in particular, is difficult to judge. In the Triassic foliage becomes frequent which is similar to identical to the fronds of modern-day Todea, Osmundastrum and Claytosmunda. The better understood rhizome fossil record indicates that the group was most diverse in the Permian, and already much reduced in the Triassic regarding the number of substantially different forms (see Bomfleur et al. and literature cited therein).

The first fossil representatives of the modern Osmundaceae (= tribus Osmundeae) include rhizome fossils with Claytosmunda-anatomy or with structural features characteristic for Osmundastrum cinnomomeum and its precursors. The same holds for the equally old leaf fossil record of the group. The main diagnostic feature of Osmundeae (modern Osmundaceae) is a heterogenous sclerenchymatic ring in the stipe basis. This potential synapomorphy is the only character differentiating between Osmundeae and the paraphyletic genus collecting their potential early ancestors and sister lineages, Millerocaulis. The basic Bauplan shared with 'Millerocaulis' was generally kept within the Osmundeae-lineage and only slightly to moderately modified in the last 200 million years. Triassic-Jurassic rhizome and frond morphologies remained essentially unaltered in the lineage leading to Claytosmunda claytoniana. This makes it impossible to discern direct ancestors of C. claytoniana from the ancestors of its sister lineages Osmunda and Plenasium), or their shared ancestors. Molecular dating placed the split between Osmunda and Plenasium, and their divergence from Claytosmunda in the Early Cretaceous, co-eval with the divergence between the sister genera Todea and Leptopteris. The Osmundastrum-lineage diverged much earlier (probably Middle Triassic), which fits with the new classification of re-evaluated rhizome fossils originally included in Millercaulis. A comprehensive list of rhizome and leaf fossils associated with modern Osmundaceae (Osmundeae in the classification of Bomfleur et al.) can be found at datadryad.org.

The only explicit reconstruction regarding the evolution of morphological traits in Osmundaceae can be found in Miller's groundbreaking work. Notable is that Permian rhizomes of both families in the Osmundales, the extinct Guaireaceae and the Osmundaceae including the extant species, show already relatively complex stele anatomies in comparison to the surviving members of the group. The rhizome fossil record also indicates several independent radiations of likely arborescent lineages, the Guaireaceae and Thamnopterioideae in the Permian, Osmundacaulis in the Triassic, and Plenasium (subgenus Aurealcaulis) in the late Cretaceous to Paleogene. As already noted by Miller, highly derived forms not directly related to the extant species and genera, can be found in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, such as Millerocaulis (Osmundacaulis) kolbii. Another general trend is that the Permian Osmundales were much larger than their modern counterparts. Today, the widespread species of Osmundaceae are rhizomatous with small, low-dissected steles.

title: Osmundaceae


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William Whiston

William Whiston (9 December 1667 – 22 August 1752) was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to instigate the Longitude Act in 1714 (and his attempts to win the rewards that it promised) and his important translations of the Antiquities of the Jews and other works by Josephus (which are still in print). He was a prominent exponent of Arianism and wrote A New Theory of the Earth.

Whiston succeeded his mentor Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. In 1710 he lost the professorship and was expelled from the university as a result of his unorthodox religious views. Whiston rejected the notion of eternal torment in hellfire, which he viewed as absurd, cruel, and an insult to God. What especially pitted him against church authorities was his denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, which he believed had pagan origins.

Early life and career
Whiston was born to Josiah Whiston (1622–1685) and Katherine Rosse (1639–1701) at Norton-juxta-Twycross, in Leicestershire, where his father was rector. His mother was daughter of the previous rector at Norton-juxta-Twycross, Gabriel Rosse. Josiah Whiston was a presbyterian, but retained his rectorship after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. William Whiston was educated privately, for his health, and so that he could act as amanuensis to his blind father. He studied at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School at Tamworth, Staffordshire. After his father's death, he entered Clare College, Cambridge as a sizar in 1686. He applied himself to mathematical study, was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) (1690), and AM (1693), and was elected Fellow in 1691 and probationary senior Fellow in 1693.

William Lloyd ordained Whiston at Lichfield in 1693. In 1694, claiming ill health, he resigned his tutorship at Clare to Richard Laughton, chaplain to John Moore, the bishop of Norwich, and swapped positions with him. He now divided his time between Norwich, Cambridge and London. In 1698 Moore gave him the living of Lowestoft where he became rector. In 1699 he resigned his Fellowship of Clare College and left to marry.

Whiston first met Isaac Newton in 1694 and attended some of his lectures, though he first found them, by his own admission, incomprehensible. Encouraged after reading a paper by David Gregory on Newtonian philosophy, he set out to master Newton's Principia mathematica thereafter. He and Newton became friends. In 1701 Whiston resigned his living to become Isaac Newton's substitute, giving the Lucasian lectures at Cambridge. He succeeded Newton as Lucasian professor in 1702. There followed a period of joint research with Roger Cotes, appointed with Whiston's patronage to the Plumian professorship in 1706. Students at the Cotes–Whiston experimental philosophy course included Stephen Hales, William Stukeley, and Joseph Wasse.

Newtonian theologian
In 1707 Whiston was Boyle lecturer; this lecture series was at the period a significant opportunity for Newton's followers, including Richard Bentley and Samuel Clarke, to express their views, especially in opposition to the rise of deism. The "Newtonian" line came to include, with Bentley, Clarke and Whiston in particular, a defence of natural law by returning to the definition of Augustine of Hippo of a miracle (a cause of human wonderment), rather than the prevailing concept of a divine intervention against nature, which went back to Anselm. This move was intended to undermine arguments of deists and sceptics. The Boyle lectures dwelt on the connections between biblical prophecies, dramatic physical events such as floods and eclipses, and their explanations in terms of science. On the other hand, Whiston was alive to possible connections of prophecy with current affairs: the War of the Spanish Succession, and later the Jacobite rebellions.

Whiston supported a qualified biblical literalism: the literal meaning should be the default, unless there was a good reason to think otherwise. This view again went back to Augustine. Newton's attitude to the cosmogony of Thomas Burnet reflected on the language of the Genesis creation narrative; as did Whiston's alternative cosmogony. Moses as author of Genesis was not necessarily writing as a natural philosopher, nor as a law-giver, but for a particular audience. The new cosmogonies of Burnet, Whiston and John Woodward were all criticised for their disregard of the biblical account, by John Arbuthnot, John Edwards and William Nicolson in particular.

The title for Whiston's Boyle lectures was The Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies. Rejecting typological interpretation of biblical prophecy, he argued that the meaning of a prophecy must be unique. His views were later challenged by Anthony Collins. There was a more immediate attack by Nicholas Clagett in 1710. One reason prophecy was topical was the Camisard movement that saw French exiles ("French prophets") in England. Whiston had started writing on the millenarianism that was integral to the Newtonian theology, and wanted to distance his views from theirs, and in particular from those of John Lacy. Meeting the French prophets in 1713, Whiston developed the view that the charismatic gift of revelation could be demonic possession.

Tensions with Newton
It is no longer assumed that Whiston's Memoirs are completely trustworthy on the matter of his personal relations with Newton. One view is that the relationship was never very close, Bentley being more involved in Whiston's appointment to the Lucasian chair; and that it deteriorated as soon as Whiston began to write on prophecy, publishing Essay on the Revelation of St John (1706). This work proclaimed the millennium for the year 1716.

Whiston's 1707 edition of Newton's Arithmetica Universalis did nothing to improve matters. Newton himself was heavily if covertly involved in the 1722 edition, nominally due to John Machin, making many changes.

In 1708–9 Whiston was engaging Thomas Tenison and John Sharp as archbishops in debates on the Trinity. There is evidence from Hopton Haynes that Newton reacted by pulling back from publication on the issue; his antitrinitarian views, from the 1690s, were finally published in 1754 as An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture.

Whiston was never a Fellow of the Royal Society. In conversation with Edmond Halley he blamed his reputation as a "heretick". Also, though, he claimed Newton had disliked having an independent-minded disciple; and was unnaturally cautious and suspicious by nature.

Expelled Arian
Whiston's route to rejection of the Nicene Creed, the historical orthodox position against Arianism, began early in his tenure of the Lucasian chair as he followed hints from Samuel Clarke. He read also in Louis Ellies Dupin, and the Explication of Gospel Theism (1706) of Richard Brocklesby. His study of the Apostolic Constitutions then convinced him that Arianism was the creed of the early church.

The general election of 1710 brought the Tories solid political power for a number of years, up to the Hanoverian succession of 1714. Their distrust of theological innovation had a direct impact on Whiston, as well as others of similar views. His heterodoxy was notorious. In 1710 he was deprived of his professorship and expelled from the university.

The matter was not allowed to rest there: Whiston tried to get a hearing before Convocation. He did have defenders even in the high church ranks, such as George Smalridge. For political reasons, this development would have been divisive at the time. Queen Anne made a point of twice "losing" the papers in the case. After her death in 1714 the intended hearing was allowed to drop. The party passions of these years found an echo in Henry Sacheverell's attempt to exclude Whiston from his church of St Andrew's, Holborn, taking place in 1719.

"Primitive Christianity" and other religious scholarship

Whiston founded a society for promoting primitive Christianity, lecturing in support of his theories in halls and coffee-houses at London, Bath, and Tunbridge Wells. Those he involved included Thomas Chubb, Thomas Emlyn, John Gale, Benjamin Hoadley, Arthur Onslow, and Thomas Rundle. There were meetings at Whiston's house from 1715 to 1717; Hoadley avoided coming, as did Samuel Clarke, though invited. A meeting with Clarke, Hoadley, John Craig and Gilbert Burnet the younger had left these leading latitudinarians unconvinced about Whiston's reliance on the Apostolical Constitutions.

Franz Wokenius wrote a 1728 Latin work on Whiston's view of primitive Christianity. His challenge to the teachings of Athanasius meant that Whiston was commonly considered heretical on many points. On the other hand, he was a firm believer in supernatural aspects of Christianity. He defended prophecy and miracle. He supported anointing the sick and touching for the king's evil. His dislike of rationalism in religion also made him one of the numerous opponents of Hoadley's Plain Account of the Nature and End of the Sacrament. He was fervent in his views of ecclesiastical government and discipline, derived from the Apostolical Constitutions.

Around 1747, when his clergyman began to read the Athanasian Creed, which Whiston did not believe in, he physically left the church and the Anglican communion, becoming a Baptist.

By the 1720s, some dissenters and early Unitarians viewed Whiston as a role model. The series of Moyer Lectures often made Whiston's unorthodox views a particular target.

Whiston held that Song of Solomon was apocryphal and that the Book of Baruch was not. He modified the biblical Ussher chronology, setting the Creation at 4010 BCE. He challenged Newton's system of The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728). Westfall absolves Whiston of the charge that he pushed for the posthumous publication of the Chronology just to attack it, commenting that the heirs were in any case looking to publish manuscripts of Newton, who died in 1727.

Whiston's advocacy of clerical monogamy is referenced in Oliver Goldsmith's novel The Vicar of Wakefield. His last "famous discovery, or rather revival of Dr Giles Fletcher, the Elder's," which he mentions in his autobiography, was the identification of the Tatars with the lost tribes of Israel.

Scientific lecturer and popular author

Whiston began lecturing on natural philosophy in London. He gave regular courses at coffee houses, particularly Button's, and also at the Censorium, a set of riverside meeting rooms in London run by Richard Steele. At Button's, he gave courses of demonstration lectures on astronomical and physical phenomena, and Francis Hauksbee the younger worked with him on experimental demonstrations. His passing remarks on religious topics were sometimes objected to, for example by Henry Newman writing to Steele.

His lectures were often accompanied by publications. In 1712, he published, with John Senex, a chart of the Solar System showing numerous paths of comets. In 1715, he lectured on the total solar eclipse of 3 May 1715 (which fell in April Old Style in England); Whiston lectured on it at the time, in Covent Garden, and later, as a natural event and as a portent.

By 1715 Whiston had also become adept at newspaper advertising. He frequently lectured to the Royal Society.

Longitude
In 1714, he was instrumental in the passing of the Longitude Act, which established the Board of Longitude. In collaboration with Humphrey Ditton he published A New Method for Discovering the Longitude, both at Sea and Land, which was widely referenced and discussed. For the next forty years he continued to propose a range of methods to solve the longitude reward, which earned him widespread ridicule, particularly from the group of writers known as the Scriblerians. In one proposal for using magnetic dip to find longitude he produced one of the first isoclinic maps of southern England in 1719 and 1721. In 1734, he proposed using the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites.

Broader natural philosophy

Whiston's A New Theory of the Earth from its Original to the Consummation of All Things (1696) was an articulation of creationism and flood geology. It held that the global flood of Noah had been caused by a comet. The work obtained the praise of John Locke, who classed the author among those who, if not adding much to our knowledge, "At least bring some new things to our thoughts." He was an early advocate, along with Edmond Halley, of the periodicity of comets; he also held that comets were responsible for past catastrophes in Earth's history. In 1736, he caused widespread anxiety among London's citizens when he predicted the world would end on 16 October that year because a comet would hit the earth. William Wake as Archbishop of Canterbury officially denied this prediction to calm the public.

There was no consensus within the Newtonians as to how far mechanical causes could be held responsible for key events of sacred history: John Keill was at the opposite extreme to Whiston in minimising such causes. As a natural philosopher, Whiston's speculations respected no boundary with his theological views. He saw the creation of man as an intervention in the natural order. He picked up on Arthur Ashley Sykes's advice to Samuel Clarke to omit an eclipse and earthquake mentioned by Phlegon of Tralles from future editions of Clarke's Boyle lectures, these events being possibly synchronous with Christ's crucifixion. Whiston published The Testimony of Phlegon Vindicated in 1732.

Personal life and death
Whiston married Ruth, daughter of George Antrobus, his headmaster at Tamworth school. He had a happy family life and died in Lyndon Hall, Rutland, at the home of his son-in-law, Samuel Barker, on 22 August 1752. He was survived by his children Sarah, William, George, and John.

Works

Whiston's later life was spent in continual controversy: theological, mathematical, chronological, and miscellaneous. He vindicated his estimate of the Apostolical Constitutions and the Arian views he had derived from them in his Primitive Christianity Revived (5 vols., 1711–1712). In 1713 he produced a reformed liturgy. His Life of Samuel Clarke appeared in 1730.

In 1727 he published a two volume work called Authentik Record belonging to the Old and New Testament. This was a collection of translations and essays on various deuterocanonical books, pseudepigrapha and other essays with a translation if relevant.

Whiston translated the complete works of Josephus into English, and published them along with his own notes and dissertations under the title The Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus the Jewish Historian in 1737. This translation was based on the same Greek edition of Josephus' works used by Siwart Haverkamp in his prior translation. The text on which Whiston's translation of Josephus is based is, reputedly, one which had many errors in transcription. In 1745 he published his Primitive New Testament (on the basis of Codex Bezae and Codex Claromontanus).

Whiston left memoirs (3 vols., 1749–1750). These do not contain the account of the proceedings taken against him at Cambridge for his antitrinitarianism, which was published separately at the time.

title: William Whiston