Victorian Philosophy:

General Beliefs
By: Jacqui Landmesser, Annie Lawn, and Stephanie Joseph
 Opposing Philosophical Classes
The Victorians and those who have studied them have
categorized several opposing trends, movements, and
loosely structured schools of Victorian thought.

"Punch Cartoon, 1894." BBC. Web. 21 Sep 2010.

 Radical Progressive vs. Tory Radical vs.
Conservative

Progressives
 Also known as Liberals or Rationalists
 Composed mainly of middle class, they feared government
intervention and stressed the importance of freedom of
action.

Tory Radicals
 Also known as Christian Socialists or Marxists
 This anti-aristocratic class emphasized the need for a
strong central government and welfare of the
interventionist state. They had an ambivalent attitude
toward middle class
 Radical Progressive vs. Tory Radical vs.
Conservative (cont’d)

Conservatives
 Also known as
Tories or
Reactionaries
 Conservatives
supported
aristocracy,
medieval revival,
social hierarchy,
and an official state
religion

Winsford Walled Garden. Web. 21 Sep 2010.

<http://www.winsfordwalledgarden.com/Data/images/Household/Houseparty.jpg>.
 Hebrew vs. Hellene
Moral vs. Aesthetic

Hebrews
 This mostly middle-class group was distinguished by its
prophetic modes, social protest, autobiographies,
emphasizing conversion, dense & grotesque images an
analogy, & contemporary attitude.

Hellenes
 Hellenes emphasized on clarity, greater use of classical
myth, and a secular version of Tractarian notion of reserve
Bentham and Coleridge: Seminal Minds
After Queen Victoria came into power, Victorian writing
soon divided into two classes, established by the beliefs
of Jeremy Bentham and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They
are said to be each other’s “completing counterpart.”
The strong convictions of the one are compatible with
the weak points of the other.
 Bentham
This progressive
thinker was known as
a great asker of
socially and
politically alarming
questions.
He challenged people
to consider the
validity of popular
notions accepted by
society.

"Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill

detail.” Wikipedia. Web. 21 Sep 2010.
 Coleridge
-A Conservative thinker
who taught the people
to consider the meaning
and significance of
popular issues.

"Coleridge Samuel Taylor 1772-1834."

Life Photo Archive. Web. 21 Sep 2010.
 Patriarchal Theory: Locke’s Refutation of Robert Filmers
Patriarcha

 Patriarchal Theory: “an extension and

justification of the theory of divine right drew an
analogy between the absolute authority of the
monarch over his kingdom and the absolute
authority of the father over his family.”

 Patriachal- characteristic of system of a

government controlled by men

 Robert Filmer thought that parents did not have

a full authority over their children because they
are not always dependent upon their parents.

 When children reach adulthood, they agree to a

contract establishing their relationship to their
parents. He then connected this idea to the
people and government.

 Locke thought that governors do not have power

through a divine right but through who is most
“able” to govern.

 He thought the people should give consent on

who their governor should be.
 Harriet Martineau's Necessarianism

 1. necessarianism- “everything was

consequence of what had preceded it”

 2. Everything that is going to happen

was planned to happen and no outside
decisions can change that plan.

 3. Society operates under natural

laws.

 4. Martineau envisioned a free society

that was governed under natural laws.

 5. Anything that happened that wasn’t

supposed to would automatically get
fixed through science.

Harriet Martineau." flickr.com. Web. 21 Sep

2010.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameron_se
3684159496/>.
Works Cited
Victorianweb.org

Harriet Martineau." flickr.com. Web. 21 Sep 2010.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameron_self/3684159496/>.
"Life, Liberty, and Property —Getting back to the original ideals." The
Bagpipe Online. Web. 21 Sep 2010. <http://www.google.com/imgres?
imgurl=http://bagpipeonline.com/uploads/2009/09/56_3_Faith_JohnLocke-
300x284.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bagpipeonline.com/2009/09/24/4265/
&usg=__pFXIYaeKUU1AA0ozukJYVxmZVME=&h=284&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&sta
rt=0&sig2=HrqCjqFd9rm4l_xiCQf1QA&zoom=1&tbnid=kaac9qmG1vtzLM:&tbn
h=158&tbnw=162&ei=gguZTLXpG4TGlQf28IVU&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djohn
%2Blocke%2Bideas%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dsafari%26rls
%3Den%26biw%3D1140%26bih%3D615%26tbs%3Disch:1&tbs
=1&iact=rc&dur=163&oei=MAuZTLfxEIG0lQfnyajxDw&esq=9&page=1&ndsp=2
0&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=106&ty=
64.
Works Cited (cont’d)
"Coleridge Samuel Taylor 1772-1834." Life Photo
Archive. Web. 21 Sep 2010.
"Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill detail."
Wikipedia. Web. 21 Sep 2010.
Winsford Walled Garden. Web. 21 Sep 2010.
<http://www.winsfordwalledgarden.com/Data/images/
Household/Houseparty.jpg>.
"Punch Cartoon, 1894." BBC. Web. 21 Sep 2010.