Abraham Tucker Biography

Abraham Tucker devoted himself to the study of philosophy. Read on to know more about Abraham Tucker’s profile, childhood, life and timeline in this biography.

Quick Facts

Gender: Male

Birthday: 02 September 1705

Died: 20 November 1774

Nationality: British

Sun Sign: Virgo

Education: Merton College

Abraham Tucker was an English country gentleman, famous for his work ‘The Light of Nature Pursued’, under the name Edward Search. He devoted his life to learn all aspects of Philosophy. Popular for his works based on many physiological and metaphysical discussions, Tickers speculations are highly associated with ethics. Tucker strongly influenced scholars like Paley and Malthus.

Early Life & Career

Abraham Tucker was born on 2 September 1705 into a wealthy family put up in London. Tucker was brought up by his uncle as he lost his parents during his childhood. In 1721, at the age of 16, he was enrolled in Merton College Oxford. There he studied subjects like mathematics, French, Italian, music, and philosophy. He then joined the Inner temple, the professional associations for barristers and judges in London, to study law but, never pursued a career in law.

‘The Light of Nature Pursued’ was Tucker’s chief work, and in 1763, he published a specimen ‘Free Will’. By 771 he lost his eyesight completely and he got an ingenious apparatus fixed and thus, he could write legible. However, his daughter helped him transcribe his works. Tucker took part in politics as well, and published a pamphlet titled ‘The Country Gentleman's Advice to his Son on the Subject of Party Clubs’, in 1755.

Tucker lived in Betchworth castle, which he purchased in 1727. He married Dorothy in 1736 but unfortunately, she passed away in 1754. Deeply mourned Tucker collected together all the letters that were passed between them and made a memoir under the title ‘The Picture of Artless Love’. Abraham Tucker took his last breath on 20 November 1774.