Abstract

Scholars have long debated the sources John Toland used to compose Pantheisticon: or the Form of Celebrating the Socratic-Society. In contrast to suggestions that point to the mystic worldview of the Renaissance thinker Giordano Bruno or a revival of Epicurean atomism, this paper puts forth the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaxagoras as an inspiration force on Toland. This is based on Toland's known reading of Anaxagoras and the close parallels between Pantheisticon and the extant fragments of Anaxagoras.