ABSTRACT
Aristotle represented the very doctrines being swept aside in the wake of Copernicus and Galileo Galilei. In point of natural philosophy, the Cambridge Platonists were decidedly moderns. Ralph Cudworth's The True Intellectual System of the Universe is a wide-ranging taxonomy of philosophical doctrines which aims to distinguish 'good' from 'bad', 'sound' from 'unsound' philosophy. Cudworth's concept of Plastic Nature has obvious affinities with the Platonic anima mundi. Cudworth's underlining of parallels between Aristotelian and Platonist doctrines is supported by an emphasis on the affinities between Aristotle and Plato generally and on the continuities between Platonism and Aristotelianism. The root connection between Aristotelianism and Cudworth's theory of Plastic Nature is teleology. Probably the most important element of Aristotelianism for Cudworth was his account of final causes. In attempting to characterize Cudworth's dialogue with that Aristotle serves Cudworth as a historian of philosophy.
