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The Religion of Humanity

The Religion of Humanity

The Religion of Humanity

The Impact of Comtean Positivism on Victorian Britain
Author:
T. R. Wright
Published:
September 2008
Availability:
Available
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9780521078979

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$57.00
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Paperback

    The Religion of Humanity, first expounded by the founder of Positivism, Auguste Comte, focused the minds of a wide range of prominent Victorians on the possibility of replacing Christianity with an alternative religion based on scientific principles and humanist values. This new book traces the impact of Comte's 'religion' on Victorian Britain, showing how its ideas were championed by John Stuart Mill and George Henry Lewes before being institutionalised by Richard Congreve and Frederic Harrison, the leaders of the two main centres of Positivist worship. Widely discussed by scientists, philosophers, and theologians, it also attracted the attention of numerous literary figures, including Matthew Arnold, Walter Pater, and Leslie Stephen, achieving its widest circulation through the works of George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and George Gissing. A wide-ranging and interdisciplinary contribution to the history of ideas, this book sheds light on a significant but hitherto neglected strand of Victorian thought.

    Product details

    September 2008
    Paperback
    9780521078979
    324 pages
    224 × 144 × 18 mm
    0.3kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. The Birth of Positivism: Auguste Comte
    • 2. The Early Years: First British Followers
    • 3. Organised Postivism: Chapel Street and Newton Hall
    • 4. The Middle Years: a Matter of Controversy
    • 5. Literary Positivism: Novel Ideas
    • 6. The Final Years: Decline and Fall.
      Author
    • T. R. Wright