Cudworth, Ralph (1617–1688)

English philosopher and leading member of the Cambridge Platonists. He opposed the materialism of Thomas Hobbes, and tried to combine the science of his day with the Platonic tradition in metaphysics and theology. Holding that mechanical and atomic principles do not suffice to explain nature, he posited the existence of a Plastic Nature, or Platonic world soul, to relate the material and spiritual orders.

Cudworth was born in Aller, Somerset. He spent most of his life at Cambridge University, where he became Master of Clare Hall and then Master of Christ's College. He was professor of Hebrew 1645–88.

His works include The True Intellectual System of the Universe 1678 and the posthumously published A Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality 1731.