Ashley, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Baron: see Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of.

Cooper, Anthony Ashley: see Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of.

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of, 1621-83, English statesman. In the English civil war he supported the crown until 1644 but then joined the parliamentarians. He was made a member of the Commonwealth council of state and supported Oliver Cromwell until 1654, when he turned against the Protectorate because of his distrust of autocratic rule. He supported the Rump Parliament against John Lambert and then participated in the Restoration (1660) of Charles II. Made a privy councilor and Baron Ashley (1661), he assisted in the trial of the regicides but otherwise worked for a lenient settlement. The same year he became chancellor of the exchequer and gained royal favor by his support of religious toleration. Named one of the proprietors of Carolina, he took considerable interest in plans for the colony, commissioning his friend John Locke to draw up a constitution for it. He joined the opposition to the 1st earl of Clarendon and, when the latter fell (1667), became a member of the Cabal administration. Created earl of Shaftesbury, he became lord chancellor in 1672. Shaftesbury had not been party to the secret Treaty of Dover (1670), and he gradually became suspicious of the king's efforts to improve the position of Roman Catholics. Renouncing his earlier belief in toleration, he supported the Test Act (1673). He was dismissed from office in the same year. Out of favor at court and embittered by his imprisonment in 1677 for opposing the prorogation of Parliament, he made use of the Popish Plot (see Oates, Titus) to promote opposition to the earl of Danby and to encourage anti-Catholic feeling. Using the Green Ribbon Club as his headquarters, Shaftesbury built up a party organization, and his followers, soon to be designated Whig, dominated the three Parliaments of 1679 to 1681. On Danby's fall (1679) Shaftesbury became president of the privy council and began to press for the exclusion bill to keep the Roman Catholic James, duke of York (later James II), from the throne. He supported instead the claims of the duke of Monmouth. Again dismissed (1679), he continued the fight for exclusion until Charles dissolved the 1681 Parliament. Shaftesbury's position was now precarious, since his party was discredited and the king in complete control of the government. An indictment for treason failed, but he fled (1682) to Holland and soon died. Aided by his wealth and an exceptional mind, Shaftesbury has been called the most skillful politician of his day. He was bitterly satirized in John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel.

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3d earl of, 1671-1713, English philosopher. The philosopher John Locke, adviser to the 1st earl, his grandfather, was in charge of Shaftesbury's education, which was largely classical. Ill health restricted his political life, although he served (1695-98) in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords after his accession to his title in 1699. Shaftesbury's chief contributions were in the fields of moral philosophy and aesthetics. He reacted against rationalism as an ethical basis and found true morality in a balance between egoism and altruism. That balance is possible because there is a harmony between society and the individual that makes the general welfare identical with individual happiness. Humans are innately equipped with spontaneous instincts or affections to promote such harmony. In the ethical field Shaftesbury called those instincts the moral sense, the first use of that term. His influence, especially in Germany, was considerable; his ideas were further developed by the British philosopher Francis Hutcheson. Shaftesbury collected most of his important essays in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711).

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th earl of, 1801-85, English social reformer. He was known as Lord Ashley until 1851, when he succeeded his father as earl. Entering the House of Commons in 1826, he became a leading advocate of government action to alleviate the injustices caused by the Industrial Revolution. Notable legislation introduced by him included acts prohibiting employment of women and children in coal mines (1842), providing for care of the insane (1845), and establishing a 10-hr day for factory workers (1847). He promoted the building of model tenements and the "ragged schools" for waifs.

(born Feb. 26, 1671, London, Eng.—died Feb. 15, 1713, Naples) English politician and philosopher. Grandson of the 1st earl of Shaftesbury, he received his early education from John Locke. He entered Parliament in 1695; succeeding to his h1 in 1699, he served three years in the House of Lords. His numerous philosophical essays were influenced by Neoplatonism; published as Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), they became the chief source of English Deism and influenced writers such as Alexander Pope, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Immanuel Kant.

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(born Feb. 26, 1671, London, Eng.—died Feb. 15, 1713, Naples) English politician and philosopher. Grandson of the 1st earl of Shaftesbury, he received his early education from John Locke. He entered Parliament in 1695; succeeding to his h1 in 1699, he served three years in the House of Lords. His numerous philosophical essays were influenced by Neoplatonism; published as Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), they became the chief source of English Deism and influenced writers such as Alexander Pope, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Immanuel Kant.

Learn more about Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd earl of with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Ashley-Cooper may refer to:

• Earls of Shaftesbury
• Adam Ashley-Cooper, Australian rugby player