The Dublin Philosophical Society was founded in 1683 by William Molyneux. It was intended to be the equivalent of the Royal Society in London, with which it maintained cultural ties. Among its most prominent members were William Petty, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop William King and Bishop George Berkeley. Most of its members were graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, and a number of them were Fellows of the College, but it had closer ties with the Royal College of Physicians.
It existed for three periods: 1683-1687, 1692–1698 and 1707-1708. Although it in itself played a small role in intellectual Dublin life, it inspired the foundation of the Dublin Society founded in 1731, which became the Royal Dublin Society in 1820. Molyneux's brother, Thomas Molyneux, was one of the founding members of the Dublin Society.
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“What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)