James Fitzjames Stephen
Portrait of a Victorian Rationalist

The first modern comprehensive examination of the work, writings and ideas of James Fitzjames Stephen.

K. J. M. Smith (Author)

9780521892247, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 July 2002

352 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

In this important study Dr Smith uses a wide range of primary materials to provide the first modern comprehensive examination of the work, writings and ideas of James Fitzjames Stephen. Stephen's broad rationalist/utilitarian ethical and intellectual stance manifested itself most prominently in law and social and political philosophy. Stephen's turn of mind led him to perceive the substance of literature and religious orthodoxy as of complementary interest and relevance to the social and political mores of Victorian England, making him one of Dickens' and Cardinal Newman's most formidable and trenchant critics. Dr Smith's account is the first to set Stephen's life and thought in its proper Victorian context, and marks a significant addition to the growing literature on the intellectual history of nineteenth-century England.

Preface
1. Early impressions: Sir James, Eton and Cambridge
2. A controversialist in the making: literary criticism and leader-writing
3. A science of criminal law
4. 'Law living and armed' - the mechanism of enforcement
5. The threat of 'hoofs and hobnails'
6. India and the imperial ethic
7. Liberty, equality, fraternity: refutation and apologia
8. Rationalism's burden
9. The bench and beyond
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]