Author Description
Cover -- The Unknowable: A Study In Nineteenth-century British Metaphysics -- Copyright -- Contents -- List Of Illustrations -- Introduction -- Part I: The Unconditioned -- 1: Sir William Hamilton -- 1.1 The Way Of 'learned Ignorance' -- 1.2 The Relativity Of Knowledge -- 1.3 The Law Of The Conditioned -- 1.4 Common Sense And The Existence Of The Unconditioned -- 1.5 Hamilton And Kant -- 1.6 Substance And Adjective -- 1.7 Space And Time -- 1.8 Causality -- 1.9 The Question Of Free Will -- 1.10 God -- 1.11 Concluding Remarks -- 2: Henry Longueville Mansel -- 2.1 The Philosophy Of Kant 2.2 Negative Reason: The Impossibility Of Thinking Of God -- 2.3 Positive Reason: Belief In The Existence Of God -- 2.4 Theology, Revelation, And Faith -- 2.5 Mill's Objections To Mansel -- 2.6 Space And Time -- 2.7 Substance, Mind, And Matter -- 2.8 Causality And Freedom -- 2.9 Concluding Remarks -- 3: Herbert Spencer -- 3.1 Spencer's Epistemology -- 3.2 The Religion Of The Unknowable -- 3.3 Science And The Unknowable -- 3.4 Space, Time, And Matter -- 3.5 Force And Causation -- 3.6 Spencer's Psychology -- 3.7 Concluding Remarks -- 4: Thomas Henry Huxley -- 4.1 Agnosticism And Metaphysics 4.2 Agnosticism And Epistemology -- 4.3 Huxley On God -- 4.4 Huxley On Causation -- 4.5 Huxley On The External World -- 4.6 Huxley On The Self -- 4.7 Evolution And Ethics -- Part Ii: Empiricist Objections -- 5: John Stuart Mill -- 5.1 Mill's Empiricism And His Attitude Towards The Unknowable -- 5.2 Mill On Time And Space -- 5.3 Mill On Matter (phenomenalism) -- 5.4 Mill On The Self -- 5.5 Mill On Causation -- 5.6 Mill On Free Will -- 5.7 Mill On Laws -- 5.8 Mill On God And Religion -- 6: Alexander Bain And George Croom Robertson -- 6.1 Alexander Bain -- 6.2 Bain's Empiricism -- 6.3 Time And Space 6.4 Phenomenalism And The External World -- 6.5 Causation, Uniformity, And Force -- 6.6 The Self, The Mind-body Relation, And Human Freedom -- 6.7 Things-in-themselves -- 6.8 George Croom Robertson -- 6.9 Meth
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the intellectual development and philosophical implications of the concept of the 'Unknowable' within nineteenth-century British metaphysics. W. J. Mander, a scholar of British idealism, examines how thinkers of the period grappled with the limits of human cognition and the nature of reality. By analyzing the interplay between the 'Unconditioned' and empirical observation, the author provides a structured framework for understanding the transition from classical metaphysics to modern agnosticism.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed analysis of Sir William Hamilton, Henry Longueville Mansel, and Herbert Spencer.
- Examination of the agnostic position as articulated by Thomas Henry Huxley.
- Critical evaluation of empiricist counter-arguments from John Stuart Mill, Alexander Bain, and George Croom Robertson.
- Exploration of metaphysical concepts including space, time, causality, and the nature of the self.
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on British thinkers and does not provide a comprehensive global history of the concept.
- It does not extend into twentieth-century developments of the Unknowable in analytic philosophy.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars frequently cite this text as a rigorous, specialized resource for understanding the specific metaphysical debates that defined the Victorian intellectual landscape. Readers note the high academic density of the prose, which assumes a foundational knowledge of nineteenth-century philosophical terminology.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
1900-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press,
ISBN-10:
0191846872
ISBN-13:
9780191846878
Philosophy
Metaphysics
Epistemology
Great Britain
Philosophers
19th Century
British Philosophy
History of Ideas
Philosophy history
Knowledge Theory
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