Molyneux, William (1656–1698)

Irish philosopher, political writer, and scientist. Born in Dublin, Molyneux was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Middle Temple. An important philosophical presence in the 17th century, he translated the French philosopher Decartes' Meditations in 1680 and was the author of the question: ‘What knowledge of the visual world can a blind man have?’ In the context of Irish history, his most influential work was a defence of Irish autonomy in The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated (1698), a treatise later adopted by nationalist and republican movements.

One of the founders in 1683 of the Dublin Philosophical Society, he also corresponded with the English philosopher John Locke on various topics, including mathematics and the science of optics. Molyneux explored these subjects in his Sciothericum Telescopium (1686) and Dioptrica Nova (1692).