Jonathan Dymond (1796–1828) was an English
Quaker and an
ethical philosopher who is known for his
monograph ''An Enquiry into the Accordancy of War with the Principles of Christianity''.
Life
Jonathan Dymond was the son of a Quaker linen-draper of Exeter, County Devon in England. Both his parents were '
Recorded Minister
A Recorded Minister was originally a male or female Quaker who was acknowledged to have a gift of spoken ministry.
The practice of recording in a Monthly Meeting Minute the acknowledgment that a Friend had a gift of spoken ministry began in the 1 ...
s' of the Society of Friends. He had little formal education but used his time off from working in his father's shop to read and to write essays on religious and moral problems, as well as composing poetry. He determined that he should devote his energies to 'the honour of advocating peace'.
In his view war was "an evil before which, in my estimation, slavery sinks into insignificance".
In 1825 he attended the annual meeting of the
Peace Society
The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s.
H ...
in London and went on to help set up a branch of that society in Exeter. He soon had to withdraw from taking an active part due to his failing health.
Works
Three works by Dymond have been published, two during his lifetime, the ''Inquiry'' and the ''Observations'', and one posthumously, the ''Essays''. A collection of his published and unpublished letters, poems and writings was made in 1911 by Charles William Dymond.
# ''An inquiry into the Accordancy of War with the Principles of Christianity, and an Examination of the Philosophical Reasoning by which it is defended: with Observations on Some of the Causes of War and Some of Its Effects.'' 1823 in England
hiladelphia 1834 ritish Library 001023068
# ''Observations on the Applicability of the Pacifist Principles of the New Testament on the Conduct of States, and on the Limitations which those principles impose on the Rights of Self-defence.'' London Peace Society Tract No. VII, 1825
ritish Library #001023074
# ''Essays on the Principles of Morality, and on the Private and Political Rights and Obligations of Mankind.'' In two volumes, Hamilton, Adams & Co, 1829
ritish Library #001023056
# ''Memoir, letters and poems of Jonathan Dymond : with bibliographical supplements'': Charles William Dymond: privately printed, Bristol, 1911
ritish Library # 007585688
Views
In his works Dymond extended the pacifist argument against war beyond the purely Christian insight of earlier generations of Quakers to wider more rationalist arguments, as in this against the notion of a distinction between aggressive and defensive war from the ''Inquiry'':
Dymond was a fervent antimilitarist. He saw armies as enemies of liberty and physical and moral subjection as a necessary condition of army life. The opinion he voiced prefigures some of the later objections to conscription made by Quakers and other conscientious objectors.
See also
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Quaker history
The Religious Society of Friends began as a proto-evangelical Christian movement in England in the mid-17th century in Lancashire. Members are informally known as ''Quakers'', as they were said "to tremble in the way of the Lord". The movement in ...
*
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
*
Quakers in Britain
*
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
*
Peace education
Peace education is the process of acquiring values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors to live in harmony with oneself, others, and the natural environment.
There are numerous United Nations declarations and resolutions on the importance ...
*
Peace Society
The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s.
H ...
*
Peace Testimony
Peace testimony, or testimony against war, is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a "b ...
References
Further reading
* Leslie Stephen, 'Dymond, Jonathan (1796–1828)', rev. K. D. Reynolds, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 25 July 2012
External links
*
* Jonathan Dymond ''Essays on the principles of morality & on the private & political rights & obligations of mankind'' (1896
Full text at Internet Archive* Jonathan Dymond ''Judicial oaths : their moral character and effects'' (1889
Full text at Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dymond, Jonathan
1796 births
1828 deaths
18th-century Quakers
Christian ethicists
English Christian pacifists
English male non-fiction writers
English philosophers
English Quakers
Non-interventionism