ABSTRACT
Before exploring the actualization of perennial philosophy in early modern England, it is imperative to clarify its name and outlines. The dialogic and speculative aspects of the ancient philosophy recovered by Ficino, with the translations of Plato's works and promoted by his own writings, were creatively absorbed in England by poets together with some of the major themes of perennial philosophy. The postulates of perennial philosophy have implications for historical research. The blood circulation theory of the physician William Harvey (1578–1657) made a synthesis of Aristotelianism and the imaginative, analogical approaches of perennial philosophy. Francis Bacon's approach to perennial philosophy is marked by the tension between the criticism of its religious dimension and the role it assigned to magic, and his own acceptance of the general assets of the trend, not to mention his interest in natural magic. Shakespeare was also interested in perennial philosophy.
