CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

The Hammer of the Cartesians

2013 book by David Leech

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ65056328 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Hammer of the Cartesians: Henry More's Philosophy of Spirit and the Origins of Modern Atheism is a 2013 book by David Leech, in which the author argues that Henry More's spirit conception, influential upon Isaac Newton and Samuel Clarke, contributed to a slow secularization process internal to theistic culture and believes that the origins of modern speculative atheism can be traced back to conceptual changes in early modern metaphysics.

Leech won the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for the book.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Hammer of the Cartesians” as 2013 book by David Leech. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2013. The account is most persuasive where Hammer, Cartesians and book can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2013 book by David Leech. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65056328. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Hammer of the Cartesians”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Hammer of the Cartesians primary sources, The Hammer of the Cartesians archive and Hammer research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Hammer of the Cartesians”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Hammer of the Cartesians” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.