ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 considers Joseph Glanvill’s fellowship of the Royal Society of London and explores his application of the Society’s epistemological method to his first published investigation into a witchcraft case. Glanvill’s Drummer of Tedworth account, appended to his Letter of Witchcraft in A Blow at Modern Sadducism (1668) and Saducismus triumphatus (1681), exhibits these epistemological and methodological tendencies across the various editions of the report. This chapter also considers the influence of Robert Boyle and Henry Oldenburg in the development of Glanvill’s method and style as exhibited therein. This examination emphasizes the important relationship between developments in Glanvill’s linguistic style, the application of his moderate scepticism and his epistemological method, to a variety of topics including witchcraft and his advocacy of the Royal Society’s experimental method. Therefore this chapter also provides an analysis of The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661), Scepsis scientifica (1665) and his essay “Against Confidence in Philosophy …” (1676), all works on the Society’s experimental method. Glanvill’s treatment of Sir Kenelm Digby’s powder of sympathy and the tale of the Scholar Gypsy provide a point of comparison for Glanvill’s treatment of the Tedworth account, as does his exposition on the importance of plain, objective language in preaching.
