The creation of a British Idealist circle in the wake of T. H. Green’s courses at Balliol College, Oxford, in the 1870s

Jean-Paul Rosaye (1)

1 TEXTES ET CULTURES - Textes et Cultures

This paper aims at shedding some light on the creation of the 'Essay Society' devised by R.L. Nettleship, the two Bradley brothers (F.H. & A.C.) and other Oxford students in the 1870s. An examination of the preceding philosophical context will be provided to explain why the philosophical reform desired by Sir William Hamilton in the 1830s, in line with a Scottish Common Sense Tradition and connection, eventually found its expression elsewhere in Oxford, and with the inopportune help of Hegelian ontology. Arguably, this 'Essay Society' provided a set of ideas that were instrumental in shaping the development of the British Idealist movement in the late-Victorian period.

Keywords: Histoire des idées en Grande-Bretagne; Mouvement idéaliste anglais; Civilisation Britannique XIXe et XXe siècles

Domains: History, Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences; Literature

Jean-Paul Rosaye. The creation of a British Idealist circle in the wake of T. H. Green’s courses at Balliol College, Oxford, in the 1870s. Collingwood and British Idealism Studies, 2018, 24 (2), pp. 301-320. ⟨hal-03760434⟩