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13
(1837-1901)
Culture
1881), the philosopher and economist
John Stuart Mill
(1806-73) and
the art critic and writer
John Ruskin
(1819-1900) were all concerned for
the damage industrialization had brought to man and the environment.
The miserable condition of the British working class contributed much
to the revolutionary theories of
Karl Marx
(1818-83) and
Friedrich
Engels
(1820-95), who both lived in England and together wrote
The Communist Manifesto
(1848). Though Communism never really
flourished in Britain, Marxism had some influence on the English
socialists
of the later part of Victoria’s reign. More directly inspired by
Marxist philosophy was the
Fabian Society
, founded in 1884 by Sidney
and Beatrice Webb.
Evolutionism.
Victorian morals and religion were deeply shaken by
the publication of
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
(1858) by
Charles Darwin
(
➤
Sister Arts
, p. 14
), and the conclusions of
geologists. In proclaiming that man was the result of gradual
evolution
,
scientists challenged the Christian belief in the creation of man by God
as told by the Bible. This also led to a series of rationalistic readings of
the Bible and of the Christian doctrine.
Applicants for
Admission to a
Casual Ward
, by
Luke Fildes
(1874)
S
tudy queStionS
1
What were the principles of utilitarian
philosophy?
2
What is meant by ‘Victorian compromise’?
3
What thinkers criticized the damages of
industrialism?
4
What theories spread through late Victorian
England together with the growth of the
working class?
5
What was the Fabian Society and whom
was it named after?
6
What was evolutionism and how was it a
threat to Victorian morals and religion?
peOple
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society took its name from
Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman
general nicknamed ‘cunctator’ (i.e.
one who delays things) because of his
delaying war tactics; likewise, the Fabians
believed in gradual reforms rather than
violent revolution.
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73, 74
001-027_The Victorians.indd 13
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