First published in 1987. Readers of Victorian literature, both poetry and prose, are constantly aware of a powerful undercurrent of change - political, social, and intellectual - which determines the shape of the literature being produced. Topics covered include parliamentary reform, the Gentleman, religious debate and secular thought, education; leisure and attitudes to the arts, and the Woman Question. This title will be of interest to students of history.

The Victorian period in Britain was an “age of reform.” It is therefore not surprising that two of the era’s most eminent intellects described themselves as reformers. Both William Whewell and John Stuart Mill believed that by reforming philosophy—including the philosophy of science—they could effect social and political change. But their divergent visions of this societal transformation led to a sustained and spirited controversy that covered morality, politics, science, and economics. Situating their debate within the larger context of Victorian society and its concerns, Reforming Philosophy shows how two very different men captured the intellectual spirit of the day and engaged the attention of other scientists and philosophers, including the young Charles Darwin. Mill—philosopher, political economist, and Parliamentarian—remains a canonical author of Anglo-American philosophy, while Whewell—Anglican cleric, scientist, and educator—is now often overlooked, though in his day he was renowned as an authority on science. Placing their teachings in their proper intellectual, cultural, and argumentative spheres, Laura Snyder revises the standard views of these two important Victorian figures, showing that both men’s concerns remain relevant today. A philosophically and historically sensitive account of the engagement of the major protagonists of Victorian British philosophy, Reforming Philosophy is the first book-length examination of the dispute between Mill and Whewell in its entirety. A rich and nuanced understanding of the intellectual spirit of Victorian Britain, it will be welcomed by philosophers and historians of science, scholars of Victorian studies, and students of the history of philosophy and political economy.

This study of T.H. Green views his philosophical opus through his public life and political commitments, and it uses biography as a lens through which to examine Victorian political culture and its moral climate. The book deals with the political and religious history of Victorian Britain in examining the basis of Green's Liberal partisanship. It demonstrates how his main ethical and political conceptions—his idea of "self-realisation" and his theory of individuality within community—were informed by evangelical theology, popular Protestantism and an idea of the English national consciousness as formed by religious conflict. While the significance of Kantian and Hegelian elements in Green's thought is acknowledged, it is argued that “indigenous” qualities of Green's teachings resonated with values shared alike by elite and rank-and-file Liberals during the mid and late Victorian era. In examining Green’s beliefs about the historical evolution of English liberty, his championing of (Liberal) Nonconformity and Nonconformist causes and his approval of religious bases of community, this study analyzes the ripening of a Greenian moment and traces Green’s influence on Liberal, quasi-socialist and Conservative social reform down to the 1920s. The lasting impact of Green’s teachings on British and Western political philosophy, apparent in the current vogue for communitarianism in liberal theory, indicates limitations of the “secularization thesis” still tacitly accepted by historians of Western political thought.

Author's previous publications include How to Study a Jane Austen Novel (Macmillan, 1987; (with others) Painting the Lion: Feminist Options in Ann Thompson and Helen Wilcox (ed.); Teaching Women, (MUP, 1989)

This volume re-evaluates the position of William Morris regarding contemporary perspectives on his artistic and political endeavours. Special emphasis is placed on the concepts and territories that lie in-between, both literally and metaphorically. This “in-between-ess” is the most remarkable quality of Morris, and secures him a unique position among his contemporaries, as well as inspiring new generations of scholars. Paradoxically, however, this aspect also contributes to a certain marginalization of Morris in studies devoted to “Eminent Victorians”. Instead of speaking of ruptures, gaps or lacunas, the point of view adopted here explores the undefined terrenes situated between art and politics, viewing them as vantage points and departure planes which cement Morris’s universe. At the same time, the book also argues that this universe has always existed in its specific shape and form, while the “poetic upholster”, as Morris was ironically labelled, only discovered and explored different points on the map of a space that could have no limits and boundaries. The book offers new insights and avenues to supplement existing scholarship on Morris, including spatiotemporal aspects of his work and the relationship between art and politics.

When computers freeze, they are "rebooted" and soon working properly again. Similarly, legendary thinkers throughout history have argued that Christianity should start fresh by recapturing the humanitarian spirit of Jesus' original message. These include such disparate individuals as Thomas Jefferson, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, and the religious leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Surprisingly enough, even classic television shows and films meant to be entertaining--Lost, Battlestar Galactica, It's a Wonderful Life, Groundhog Day, Decalogue, and A Charlie Brown Christmas--are attempts to apply the basic principles of Christianity to modern times. This book offers new essays by scholars of literature, film, history, theology and philosophy examining how various thinkers and storytellers over time have conceived of a reinvented Christianity. In confronting this controversial idea, this book examines how unorthodox interpretations of the Bible can be some of the most valid, how visions of Jesus as a revolutionary may be the most historically sound, and how compassionate Christians such as Origen have wrestled with the eternal questions of the existence of evil, the gift of free will and the promise of universal salvation.