The Metaphysical Society (1869-1880)

Abstract

The Metaphysical Society was founded in 1869 at the instigation of James Knowles, editor of the Contemporary Review and then of the Nineteenth Century, as a private dining and debate club that gathered together a latter-day clerisy. Building on the tradition of the Cambridge Apostles, the founding members elected talented men from across the Victorian intellectual spectrum: bishops, one Cardinal, philosophers, scientists, literary figures, and politicians. There were liberals and conservatives, empiricists and intuitionists, and Protestants, Catholics, and unbelievers. It included in its 62 members the prominent intellectual superstars of the period, such as T. H. Huxley; William Gladstone; Walter Bagehot; Henry Edward Manning; John Ruskin; and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The members of the Society discussed the reality of miracles, the status of evolution, and the nature of ethics. This collection moves beyond Alan Willard Brown’s 1947 pioneering study of the Metaphysical Society by offering a more detailed analysis of its inner dynamics and its larger impact outside the dining room at the Grosvenor Hotel. It casts light on many of the colourful figures that joined the Society and also examines, with fresh eyes, the major concepts that informed the papers presented at Society meetings. By discussing groups, important individuals, and underlying concepts, the chapters contribute to a rich, new picture of Victorian intellectual life during the 1870s, a period when intellectuals were wondering how, and what, to believe in a time of social change, spiritual crisis, and scientific progress.