Victorian Philosophical Anti-Rationalism -- the anti-practical and anti-Utilitarian philosophy of Newman, Pater, and Arnold
The Victorian era in England gave birth to Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian philosophy of social governance, to the scientific philosophy of Darwinism, and to the application of scientific principles to social philosophy in the form of Social Darwinism. Perhaps this scientific and methodical era, an era that oversaw the full flowering of the Industrial Revolution's stress upon machinery into the transformation into the human body and mind as a machine-like worker drone, inevitably spawned a kind of counter-revolutionary philosophy and ethos for the age -- namely the idea and ideals that cohered and evolved over the course of the Oxford Movement, the Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movement, and finally coalesced into the austere vision of the poet and philosopher Matthew Arnold.
One of the earliest counters to the pragmatism and utilitarianism so popular at the time of Victoria's reign was the Oxford Movement's stress upon neo-Catholicism and the importance of a spiritual and emotional connection with the world, as was seen, according to this movement's vision during the Middle Ages. John Henry Newman, one of the foremost members of the Oxford Movement, argued in his essay about the "Idea of a University: Knowledge Its Own End, Knowledge and Learning, Knowledge and Skill, and Knowledge and Religion" that religion's apparent failure to do 'real work' in the world was not an argument for religion's invalidation. Religion, he stressed, remained an important area of study for young men, perhaps the most important area of study, in fact, all the more important, given the mechanization of the human and religious spirit under industrial development.
Rather, Newman stressed, philosophy itself and the formulation of the human mind was the most important aspect of education. Newman drew an analogy between the Greek Olympic games, which were not specifically practical exercises for the human body, but exhibited the body in its fullest flowering of excellence for all to see. So philosophy, within the...
Dr. Jekyll and Victorian Literature England during the reign of Queen Victoria was a very rigid, prudish, and regulated society, very different from the world today. In Victorian England, there were very strict rules which dictated the behavior of the citizenry. Those who wanted to be accepted in proper society were heavily restricted in every aspect of their lives. There were restrictions on alcohol and other substances which lesser individuals might
Victorian era Ireland, Miss Julie depends on effective costumes. Costume designer Consolata Boyle delivers, providing the titular protagonist with the requisite garb of the era. Issues of gender and social class are conveyed through clothing in Miss Julie, as the title character wears rich silks and other gleaming fabrics that denote her social status, Likewise, the colors of Miss Julie's dresses are deep jewel tones befitting her wealth and
Art Nouveau & Modernism The time period following the Victorian era was marked by widespread changes in design, styles, and art in general. Two of the most important movements of the time between 1850 and 1929 are Art Nouveau and Modernism. This essay aims to provide a valuable view of both movements through images and words, in order to enlighten the reader on these two very influential eras. The Art Nouveau movement
Victorian Female Sexuality Victorian Sexuality: George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession and Thomas Hardy's "The Ruined Maid" Women in the Victorian era must have suffered enormously under the massive double standards and the shameful image of a woman who wanted to be on her own. It is clear from examining the literature of the period how much discrimination was placed on women in the era. George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession and
Victorian Poetry We may know an era by its poetry - or at least those eras for which poetry was still important. It might be difficult indeed to draw any conclusions about our own days from poetry because it has become so marginal to the lives and experiences of most 21st-century denizens. But for the Victorians, who still read poetry as if it had ability to change the world, poetry was
Alice in Wonderland as Victorian Literature -- Being a child in Victorian England was difficult. They had to behave like the adults did, follow all rules, they had to be seen but not heard. Children, however, are naturally curious; unable to sit for long periods of time, and as part of normal cognitive development, consistently asking questions about the world. In fact, childhood is the period when a child acquires
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