Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism
Regular price
€179.80
14 days return policy
Shipping & Delivery
A01=John van Wyhe
Agnostic
Atheism
Author_John van Wyhe
Blasphemy
British Phrenologists
Category=PDX
Category=VXFJ
Children
Combe's Book
Combe's Constitution
Combe's Doctrine
Combe's Philosophy
Combe’s Book
Combe’s Constitution
Combe’s Doctrine
Combe’s Philosophy
Common Sense School
Doctor
Dr Spurzheim
Edinburgh
Edinburgh Phrenologists
Education
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_mind-body-spirit
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
Evangelical
Farmers
Freethinking
Frontal Sinus
Gall's System
Gall’s System
George Combe influence
Good Life
history of medicine UK
John Elliotson
Labourers
Medicine
Military Surgery
natural laws theory
nineteenth-century science
Observer's Independence
Observer’s Independence
Periodicals
Phrenological Journal
Phrenological Naturalism
Phrenological Societies
Physiognomical System
Professions
religion and science debate
Science
scientific naturalism origins in Britain
Scottish Common Sense School
Social reform
Technology
United Secession Church
Utilitarianism
Vice Versa
Victorian intellectual history
Victorian Scientific Naturalism
War
Wider Issues
Young Man
Product details
- ISBN 9780754634089
- Weight: 720g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 28 Mar 2004
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Through a reassessment of phrenology, Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism sheds light on all kinds of works in Victorian Britain and America which have previously been unnoticed or were simply referred to with a vague 'naturalism of the times' explanation. It is often assumed that the scientific naturalism familiar in late nineteenth century writers such as T.H. Huxley and John Tyndall are the effects of a 'Darwinian revolution' unleashed in 1859 on an unsuspecting world following the publication of The Origin of Species. Yet it can be misleading to view Darwin's work in isolation, without locating it in the context of a well established and vigorous debate concerning scientific naturalism. Throughout the nineteenth century intellectuals and societies had been discussing the relationship between nature and man, and the scientific and religious implications thereof. At the forefront of these debates were the advocates of phrenology, who sought to apply their theories to a wide range of subjects, from medicine and the treatment of the insane, to education, theology and even economic theories. Showing how ideas about naturalism and the doctrine of natural laws were born in the early phrenology controversies in the 1820s, this book charts the spread of such views. It argues that one book in particular, The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects (1828) by George Combe, had an enormous influence on scientific thinking and the popularity of the 'naturalistic movement'. The Constitution was one of the best-selling books of the nineteenth century, being published continuously from 1828 to 1899, and selling more than 350,000 copies throughout the world, many times more than Dawin's The Origin of Species. By restoring Combe and his work to centre stage it provides modern scholars with a more accurate picture of the Victorians' view of their place in Nature.
Dr John van Wyhe is Affiliate Researcher in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
