The Philosophical Review/Volume 1/Summary: Freudenthal - Beiträge zur Geschichte der englischen Philosophie
This is a study of the life and philosophy of Sir William Temple, born in 1553, entered King's College in 1573, where Digby was his tutor. He studied the Aristotelian logic at first with enthusiasm, but soon became an opponent. Afterwards he became secretary to Sir Philip Sydney, and later to the Earl of Essex. On the trial of the latter, he was accused of having also had a share in the plot against the queen, and compelled to go into banishment for some time. After his return he was made president of Trinity College, Dublin, and retained this position until his death in 1626. His character was unblemished, and though he was a fierce opponent yet he fought with arguments, and not by means of personalities and reproaches. His writings are nearly all polemics against Aristotle and the School-men. No one, not even Bacon, has more vigorously protested against false authority. He defended Ramus against the attacks of Digby and others; but both he and Ramus, while believing that they had freed themselves from authority, adopted the scholastic physics, psychology, and metaphysics. In religion, he maintained the most orthodox position, acknowledging the Scriptures as the supreme test of authority. He was one of the first in England who ventured to enter the lists against Aristotle and the Scholastics, and thus contributed his share towards breaking the chains which held English thought in bondage. Long intercourse with Temple must have strengthened that opposition to Scholasticism which shows itself so strongly in Bacon's works. Although Bacon drew from the whole field on ancient and modern literature, yet we must seek before all in the writers of his own country for the germs of those thoughts which have made his name illustrious.