The Metaphysical Society (1869–1880): Intellectual Life in Mid-Victorian England ed. by Catherine Marshall, Bernard Lightman, and Richard England

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Metaphysical Society (1869–1880): Intellectual Life in Mid-Victorian England ed. by Catherine Marshall, Bernard Lightman, and Richard England Elizabeth A. Huddleston The Metaphysical Society (1869–1880): Intellectual Life in Mid-Victorian England EDITED BY CATHERINE MARSHALL, BERNARD LIGHTMAN, AND RICHARD ENGLAND Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. xii + 282 pages. Hardcover: $90. ISBN: 9780198846499. Just five years ago in 2015, Oxford University Press, under the editorial guidance of Catherine Marshall, Bernard Lightman, and Richard England, published a three-volume critical edition of the Papers of the Metaphysical Society.1 An essential [End Page 113] volume for the study of nineteenth-century British intelligentsia, the critical edition of the Papers of the Metaphysical Society opened the door for a more complete scholarly explication of the topics of interest for some of the foremost thinkers in Britain during Newman's lifetime. Some such thinkers include William George Ward, William Gladstone, Henry Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, and Thomas Huxley. While Newman abnegated the invitation to participate in the Metaphysical Society, meaning he never participated himself, many of his frequent correspondents were active members, including Henry Manning, Father Dalgairns, Thomas Mozely, and James Anthony Froude. Many ideas presented in the Metaphysical Society papers themselves were also present in the conversations that Newman had with his correspondents. More importantly for historical research today, one is able to explore more fully the philosophical milieu in which Newman was a part, even if only tangentially. This compilation of essays is divided into three parts. The first part, "Society and the Politics of Engagement," includes three essays, all of which focus in some way on the societal, political, and social nature of the Metaphysical Society, as well as its response to the societal and cultural climate of the late Victorian intellectual atmosphere. The first essay, penned by Bruce Kinzer, entitled "The Personalization of Intellectual Combat: James Fitzjames Stephen and the Metaphysical Society," discusses how the Metaphysical Society "gave [James Fitzjames] Stephen one more forum in which to crush intellectual adversaries whose views he deemed flawed and obnoxious" (19). The second essay by Catherine Marshall entitled, "The Editors of the Metaphysical Society, or Disseminating the Ideas of the Metaphysicians," demonstrates that "the study of the journalistic contributions of the Metaphysicians can help reinterpret the place of their ideas in late Victorian England" (42). The third and final essay in this section, "Liberalism and the Metaphysical Society" by Andrew Vincent, investigates the diverse nature of the papers of the Metaphysical Society in their response "to the political, social, religious, and scientific changes of their era" and asks specifically if "the papers of the Society [were] simply a constellation of incommensurable arguments talking past each other, or was there an underlying theme which allowed these diverse arguments to cohere in some manner" (63). Whereas the first part investigates sociological themes to help situate the Metaphysical Society within its proper cultural context, the second part begins an investigation on some of the philosophical themes important to the Metaphysicians. Part two, entitled "Miracles, Unseen Universes, and Natural Causes," is comprised of four essays. The first essay by Gowan Dawson entitled, "'The Cross-Examination of the Physiologist': T. H. Huxley and the Resurrection," places Huxley's [End Page 114] controversial paper on resurrection within the context of other discussions on the subject. Dawson argues, "Huxley's focus on biblical resurrection was hardly unprecedented at the Metaphysical Society, and his paper was part of a suite of contributions on the vexed question of miracles, and it was these together, rather than Huxley's alone, that prompted the innovation of an extra session of discussion" (93). The second essay by Richard England entitled, "Cause, Nature, and the Limits of Language: Martineau and Maurice on the Philosophical Necessity of Theism," introduces the ideas of Anglican Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872) and Unitarian James Martineau (1805–1895) in order "to show how their views had developed from old philosophical controversies, and to explain why their contributions did not change the minds of their naturalist opponents" who saw themselves as divided between a "school of experience (empiricists)" and the "school of intuition" (120). In the third essay, "Expertise in the Miracles Debate," Anne Dewitt explores the cultural...