 Here I shall only observe that despite the undeniable importance of Locke’s hypothesis and the arguments put forward in his second reply to Stillingfleet, they should not be seen as a starting point for speculations about the soul, but as part of an ongoing philosophical and theological discussion. While Locke’s arguments probably provided a new stimulus for discussion, claims that his hypothesis constituted the sole impetus for the late seventeenth century materialistic works ignore the preceding theological debates. (Thompson 2008: 58) 