...champion of all that is easy, natural, superficial." And it is but fair to say, that if, as he boasted, he brought " Philosophy out of closets and libraries,...to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffee-houses," it certainly was Philosophy in a very diluted form. But in a periodical such as the...

...losing in depth as it spread itself in width. Addison expresses the aim of this popular philosophy. ' It was said of Socrates that he brought philosophy down from heaven, to inhabit among men. I shall be ambitious to have it said of me that I have brought philosophy out of closets and libraries,...

...Steele. He addressed as directly the new world of the home. ' It was said of Socrates,' he tells us, 'that he brought philosophy down from heaven to inhabit...tea-tables and in coffee-houses. I would therefore,' he ends with a smile, ' recommend these my speculations to all well-regulated assemblies that set apart...

...Writing in his paper The Spectator in March 1711, Joseph Addison declared that he would be pleased 'to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy...and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and in Coffee-Houses' (Steele and Addison 1982: 210). His twelve essays on 'The Pleasures of the Imagination' which appeared...

...combination of sharp, witty observation and reflections on social and moral issues, designed to "bring philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and...dwell in clubs, and assemblies, at tea-tables, and in coffee-houses."9 Though the Spectator lasted for only two years, it was frequently reprinted through...

...essays ofjoseph Addison (1672-1719) and Richard Steele (1672-1729), whose Tatler and Spectator papers "brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries,...to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and Coffee-Houses" (Addison's Spectator no. 10, 1 144). 15 Hume announced Addisonian aspirations in his...

...sociable and accessible to both sexes. He famously proposed that philosophy should be discussed in public: 'It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy...dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables, and in Coffee-Houses.'21 Addison describes scenes where men and women could meet and exchange ideas through...

...started publication. In an early number, Joseph Addison offered his well-known goal for the publication: It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy...to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at TeaTables, and Coffee- Houses.8 The Addison passage makes explicit a point that is implicit in the passage cited from...

...day." This famous statement of intent then continues in a vein Montaigne would have found congenial: "I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that...assemblies, at tea-tables, and in coffee-houses." The governing conceit in Addison's public-spirited philosophy of manners is an awareness, derived from...

...persona of the thinker, signalled by Adam Smith's remark about the trade of thinking. Proposing to bring 'Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools...dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and in Coffee Houses', Joseph Addison, the first great media man, sought to turn the philosopher into a man...