Anthony Collins

Born in Middlesex in 1676, Anthony Collins became one of the best-known English defenders of deism and free inquiry. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, later studied law, and moved in intellectual circles that included John Locke, whose ideas helped shape his thinking.

Collins wrote a series of controversial works on religion, reason, and human freedom. He is especially remembered for arguing that people should examine religious claims for themselves, and for taking part in major philosophical debates of his day, including disputes about the soul, necessity, and revelation.

He was not only a writer but also a man of means involved in public life, serving locally in Essex. Though many of his books provoked strong criticism, they helped make him an important voice in the history of freethought and the early Enlightenment.