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MANDER, William J. British Idealism: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. xix + 605pp. Cloth, $160.00- The British Idealists form an important chapter in inteUectual history. They have been the subject of anthologies and scholarly treatises for decades and are featured in the distinguished monograph series, British Idealist Studies as weU as the journal, CoUingwood and British Idealism Studies. Against this venerable and very active background, the book under review is likely to stand out as the scholarly study of record. William Mander has provided a treatise that is at once authoritative and accessible, examining ideaUst influences in philosophy, reilgion, logic, ethics, politics and metaphysics. The notes, bibliographies, and richly informing Chronology wiU stand as valuable aids to further study of this highly variegated movement of thought and practice.
The fifteen chapters begin with a statement of the importance of the tradition, and a justification for the chronology marking out the boundaries of the work. Mander states early that the idealism that grounds the subjects of this work dates to 1865. Reading this, scholars will then understanding why there is no reference in the work to the Cambridge Platonists, or to George Berkeley or to any of those British empiricists (including Locke...