Abstract

One dominant aspect of British Idealism of the late nineteenth century was its critical reaction to the central traditions of British philosophy from Hobbes to Mill; much of T. H. Green’s thought was cast against his criticism of the Lockean “way of ideas”; F. H. Bradley challenged key doctrines in Mill’s logic and the theory of the association of ideas as developed by Hume, Mill, and Hartley; Bernard Bosanquet’s political philosophy raised objections to the forms of liberal individualism found in Bentham, Mill, and Spencer; and all three were critical of utilitarianism. In advancing their criticisms, they brought to bear the insights of other traditions they had encountered in their studies at Oxford: the ancient philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and the German idealism which had been gradually arriving from the continent. The extent to which they forged new positions from these sources varied. While Bradley’s thought was more eclectic and independent, Green’s thinking was always dominated by Kant and Bosanquet’s by Hegel.