RESEARCH
ARTICLE
ABSTRACT
This a icle con ibu es o eco e ing he his o y o women’s
con ibu ions o aes he ics by examining Emilia Dilke’s w i ings on
aes he ics om he mid-1860s o he ea ly 1870s. Ini ially, Dilke
ook he his o icis iew ha a wo ks a e inescapably he p oduc s
and exp essions o hei social and his o ical ci cums ances and ha
a is be e , as a , he mo e i dis ils i s ime. Dilke also hough ha
in he mode n wo ld a had sepa a ed inexo ably om mo ali y and
eligion. On ha basis she came o endo se aes he icism, a guing
ha a should be made o beau y’s sake and no subo dina ed
o mo al pu poses. Howe e , his ul ima ely led o some ensions
be ween he aes he icism and his o icism. In he end she esol ed
hese ensions by dis inguishing be ween a ious kinds o alue,
o uses, ha a wo ks can ha e. The bes a wo ks ha e p ope ly
aes he ic alue and anscend his o y, whe eas he majo i y o
a wo ks ha e only his o ical alue as exp essions o hei e as.
O e all, Dilke pu o wa d a o ce ul de ence o aes he icism and
nego ia ed be ween aes he icism and his o icism in a unique way.
She dese es ecogni ion as a signi ican emale igu e in he his o y
o aes he ics.
Emilia Dilke on
Aes he ics
Alison S one
Lancas e Uni e si y, UK
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Alison S one
Lancas e Uni e si y, UK
[email p o ec ed]
KEYWORDS:
Emilia Dilke; aes he icism;
his o icism; his o y o
women philosophe s;
nine een h-cen u y B i ish
aes he ics
TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
S one, Alison. ‘Emilia Dilke
on Aes he ics.’ Es e ika:
The Eu opean Jou nal o
Aes he ics LX/XVI, no. 1
(2023): pp. 1–18. DOI:
h ps://doi.o g/10.33134/
eeja.328
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DOI: 10.33134/eeja.328
I. INTRODUCING EMILIA DILKE
Emilia Dilke (1840–1904) was, by he ime o he dea h, B i ain’s p e-eminen au ho i y
on F ench a . She buil he epu a ion wi h The Renaissance o A in F ance (1879),
Claude Lo ain (1884), A in he Mode n S a e (1888), and a ou - olume book se ies
on eigh een h-cen u y F ench a (1899–1902).1 Despi e he high s anding in he own
ime, Dilke, like many his o ical women in ellec uals, was o go en o nea ly all o
he wen ie h cen u y and misleadingly omi ed om his o ies o hinking abou a
in B i ain. Thank ully, ecen schola s ha e done in aluable wo k es o ing Dilke o he
his o ical eco d. The es o a ion began wi h Be y Askwi h’s 1969 biog aphy and Colin
Eisle ’s 1981 a icle on Dilke as a his o ian.2 Se e al key ein e p e a ions ollowed in
he 1990s – a se ies o a icles by Elizabe h Mans ield, an inno a i e c i ical biog aphy
by Kali Is ael, and an accoun o Dilke’s jou nal con ibu ions by Ma ysa Demoo .3 This
has enabled u he schola ship om he 2000s onwa ds, by Meaghan Cla ke, Hila y
F ase , and John Paul Kanwi , loca ing Dilke wi hin adi ions o Vic o ian a his o y
and c i icism.4
One pa o Dilke’s oeu e s ill awai s eco e y. Be o e she u ned o a his o y, Dilke
p oduced a subs an ial co pus o w i ing on aes he ics. Spanning he mid-1860s
o he ea ly 1870s, i includes nume ous sho essays and e iews and wo majo
heo e ical s a emen s, ‘A and Mo ali y’ (1869) and ‘The Use o Looking a Pic u es’
(1873). Dilke, hen, was an aes he ician be o e she became an a his o ian. My aim
he e is o p o ide he i s mode n-day philosophical accoun o Dilke he aes he ician
and un old he dis inc i e posi ion in aes he ics.
To an icipa e, Dilke began in he 1860s as a his o icis , seeing a wo ks as inescapably
he p oduc s and exp essions o hei social and his o ical ci cums ances (see Sec ion
1 See Mme Ma k Pa ison [Emilia Dilke], The Renaissance o A in F ance (London: Kegan
Paul, 1879); Claude Lo ain (Pa is: Rouam, 1884); Emilia [Lady] Dilke, A in he Mode n S a e
(London: Chapman and Hall, 1888); F ench Pain e s o he XVIII h Cen u y (London: Bell,
1899); F ench A chi ec s and Sculp o s o he XVIII h Cen u y (London: Bell, 1900); F ench
Fu ni u e and Deco a ion in he XVIII h Cen u y (London: Bell, 1901), and F ench Eng a e s
and D augh smen o he XVIII h Cen u y (London: Bell, 1902).
2 See Be y Askwi h, Lady Dilke: A Biog aphy (London: Cha o & Windus, 1969), and Colin
Eisle , ‘Lady Dilke (1840–1904): The Six Li es o an A His o ian’, in Women as In e p e e s
o he Visual A s, 1820–1979, ed. Clai e Rich e She man and Adele Holcomb (Wes po ,
CT: G eenwood P ess, 1981), 147–80.
3 See Elizabe h Mans ield, ‘A , His o y and Au ho ship: The C i ical W i ings o Emilia
Dilke’ (PhD diss., Ha a d Uni e si y, 1996); ‘Vic o ian Iden i y and he His o ical Imagina y:
Emilia Dilke’s The Renaissance o A in F ance’, Clio 26 (1997): 167–88; ‘A icula ing
Au ho i y: Emilia Dilke’s Ea ly Essays and Re iews’, Vic o ian Pe iodicals Re iew 31 (1998):
75–86; and ‘The Vic o ian G and Siècle: Ideology as A His o y’, Vic o ian Li e a u e and
Cul u e 28 (2000): 133–47; Kali Is ael, Names and S o ies: Emilia Dilke and Vic o ian Cul u e
(New Yo k: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 1999); and Ma ysa Demoo , Thei Fai Sha e: Women,
Powe and C i icism in he ‘A henaeum’ (Alde sho : Ashga e, 2000), 64–75. I should no e
ha Is ael’s complex, pos mode n in e p e i e app oach goes beyond s aigh o wa d
biog aphy.
4 See Meaghan Cla ke, C i ical Voices: Women and A C i icism in B i ain 1880–1905
(London: Rou ledge, 2005); Hila y F ase , Women W i ing A His o y in he Nine een h
Cen u y (Camb idge: Camb idge Uni e si y P ess, 2014); ‘W i ing Cosmopolis: The
Cosmopoli an Aes he ics o Emilia Dilke and Ve non Lee’, 19: In e disciplina y S udies in
he Long Nine een h Cen u y 28 (2019), h ps://doi.o g/10.16995/n n.844; and ‘Dilke [née
S ong; o he ma ied name Pa ison], Emilia F ancis, Lady Dilke’, in Ox o d Dic iona y
o Na ional Biog aphy (Ox o d: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2008), h ps://doi.o g/10.1093/
e :odnb/32825; and John Paul Kanwi , Vic o ian A C i icism and he Woman W i e
(Columbus: Ohio S a e Uni e si y P ess, 2013).
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II). This led he o ejec aes he ic mo alism, he hen-popula iew ha a should
se e mo al pu poses and be judged by mo al c i e ia. She ejec ed ha iew on he
g ounds ha a had become sepa a ed om mo ali y and eligion o e he cou se
o his o y, making aes he ic mo alism inapp op ia e in he mode n wo ld. Dilke hus
became a p oponen o aes he icism, he iew ha a ’s p ima y pu pose is o be
beau i ul and ha a should be judged by aes he ic c i e ia, no mo al, poli ical, o
eligious ones. Dilke de ended aes he icism in ‘A and Mo ali y’ (see Sec ion III). Bu
he way she did so c ea ed a ension, ul ima ely, wi h he his o icism (Sec ion IV).
A e wa e ing be ween he aes he icis and his o icis commi men s in he ea ly
1870s, she esol ed he ension in ‘The Use o Looking a Pic u es’ by dis inguishing
be ween he bes a wo ks, which ha e aes he ic alue and anscend his o y, and
he majo i y o lesse a wo ks, which ha e only his o ical alue as exp essions o hei
imes (see Sec ion V). The la e wo ks mus he e o e be explained and unde s ood
his o ically. So, Dilke concluded, he igh app oach o mos a is his o ical and
explana o y; hence she u ned aside om aes he ics o a his o y (see Sec ion VI).
Why should we ca e? The answe is ha he his o y o women’s con ibu ions o
aes he ics is se iously unde -s udied. In oducing a Hypa ia special issue on ‘Women,
A , and Aes he ics’, Peg B and and Ma y De e eaux no ed ha eminis aes he icians
had ba ely looked a women in he his o y o aes he ics.5 Bu B and and De e eaux
hemsel es did no men ion any p e- wen ie h-cen u y women aes he icians, and
he schola ly si ua ion has changed li le since. Ac ually, many women w o e on
aes he ics in nine een h-cen u y B i ain (no o men ion o he imes and places). They
include Joanna Baillie, Anna Jameson, F ances Powe Cobbe, and Ve non Lee, besides
Dilke he sel . By examining Dilke’s wo k we can ill in pa o his ich adi ion. This
is impo an bo h o his o ical accu acy and o make aes he ics mo e inclusi e by
ecognizing women’s con ibu ions o i , p esen and pas .
Le me b ie ly ske ch Dilke’s li e and ca ee o con ex ualize wha ollows.6 Bo n
Emily F ancis S ong bu always called F ancis, she g ew up in Ox o d in an a is ically
well-connec ed amily, knowing he p e-Raphaeli es (she ejec ed Holman Hun ’s
ma iage o e ) and John Ruskin, a whose encou agemen she s udied a om 1859
o 1861 a he Na ional A T aining School in London. She hen e u ned o Ox o d
and ma ied he ec o o Lincoln College, Ma k Pa ison, becoming Emily F ancis
S ong Pa ison. The couple’s unhappy ma iage was widely ega ded as he model
o ha o Do o hea and Casaubon in Elio ’s Middlema ch – Ma k Pa ison did, in ac ,
w i e a book on he his o ical Casaubon.7 F ancis Pa ison (as Dilke hen was) began
publishing in he pe iodical p ess in he 1860s. Acco ding o he second husband, Si
Cha les Dilke, ‘The subjec s upon which she w o e la gely in he ea ly days we e in he
main philosophical. […] The dominan in e es [in aes he ics] soon came o he on ,
[…] in a se ies o e iews o Ge man books de eloping heo ies o aes he ics’,8 and
5 Peg B and and Ma y De e eaux, ‘In oduc ion: Feminism and Aes he ics’, Hypa ia 18
(2003): iii–xx.
6 On Dilke’s li e, see Askwi h, Lady Dilke, and Is ael, Names and S o ies.
7 Elio knew o Dilke’s ma i al woes because hey we e good iends and co esponded
egula ly; Elio desc ibed he sel in one le e as Dilke’s mo he (Mad e) (see Is ael, Names
and S o ies, 299n41).
8 Cha les Dilke, ‘Memoi ’, in Emilia Dilke [Lady Dilke], The Book o he Spi i ual Li e
(London: Mu ay, 1905), 28.
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English and F ench books oo. These 1860s pieces we e in he Sa u day Re iew, om
which she p og essed o publish in he p es igious Wes mins e Re iew om 1869 o
1873, and hen om 1870 in The Academy, whose a edi o she became in 1873.9 By
hen she was e iewing nume ous a exhibi ions as well as a books, making he u n
o a his o y consolida ed in he i s book, The Renaissance o A in F ance, in 1879.
Also du ing he 1870s, she p i a ely changed he i s name o he mo e cosmopoli an
and li e a y ‘Emilia’. Following Ma k Pa ison’s dea h in 1884 she ma ied Cha les Dilke
in 1885, he eby becoming Lady Emilia Dilke – he e, o simplici y, ‘Dilke’. Alongside
he wo k on F ench a , she became imme sed in he mo emen o unionize women
wo ke s, se ing as p esiden o he Women’s T ade Union League om 1886 o
1904. She now saw a wo ks as ma e ial p oduc s, con ibu ing o he economy, and
shaped by poli ical a angemen s; his na u ally led he o ecognize he impo ance
o p oduc ion and he poli ical need o p oduce s, including women p oduce s, o
secu e be e wo king condi ions.10
Tha was whe e Dilke ended up; le us explo e how she go he e. I will mo e h ough
he s ages in he aes he ic hough ch onologically, p esen ing he ideas clea ly and
econs uc ing he easoning behind he in ellec ual de elopmen . I shall quo e he
ex ensi ely, so ha he philosophical cha ac e o he wo k can speak o i sel .
II. DILKE’S HISTORICISM
His o icism was he dominan s and in Dilke’s ea lies essays in he Sa u day Re iew,
o which she began w i ing in 1863. I was a conse a i e and ace bic jou nal, bu i s
s ic policy o anonymi y and s ong co po a e oice ga e Dilke a sa e space o de elop
he ideas.11 We should bea in mind ha anonymi y was no mal o p ose a icles in
B i ish pe iodicals un il he mid-1860s, and in some cases la e . This con en ion had
enabling aspec s o women, allowing hem o publish wi hou being censu ed.12 Once
signa u e became mo e no mal, women o en held on o anonymi y as bes hey
could, some imes by using ini ials a he han gi en names o adop ing pseudonyms.
Bu in he 1860s Dilke could s ill ake ad an age o he con en ion o anonymi y. She
wo ked ou he app oach o a using he e iews o o he a heo is s, o e iews
and essays we e no sha ply di e en ia ed in nine een h-cen u y B i ish pe iodicals,
which employed a po ous essay– e iew o ma .
In ‘The A -Idea’ (1864), Dilke decla ed posi i ism he bes app oach o a . By
con as , James Jackson Ja es, whose book The A -Idea she was c i iquing, o e ed
only ‘ ine specula ions’ and a ‘philosophy ha wan s bu one hing – bo om’.13 His
heo y had no aced ‘ he es o ac s’. These s a emen s exempli y wha Cha les
9 Mans ield, ‘A icula ing Au ho i y’, gi es an excellen accoun o hese ea ly a icles
bu o eg ounds Dilke’s au ho i a i e pe sona wi hin hem mo e han hei philosophical
a gumen s.
10 On Dilke’s la e ma e ialis and his o icis app oach, see F ase , Women W i ing, chap.
4, and ‘W i ing Cosmopolis’.
11 See Hugh C aig and Alexis An onia, ‘Six Au ho s and he Sa u day Re iew: A
Quan i a i e App oach o S yle’, Vic o ian Pe iodicals Re iew 48 (2015): 67–86.
12 See Alexis Easley, Fi s Pe son Anonymous: Women W i e s and Vic o ian P in Media,
1830–70 (London: Ashga e, 2004).
13 [Emilia Dilke], ‘The A -Idea’, Sa u day Re iew, 13 Augus 1864, 219.
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Dilke desc ibed as ‘he in a iable s aigh o wa dness, o en “b u ali y”, o in ellec ’.14
Agains specula ion, she ecommended he ‘ a mo e easoned sys em o Com e’,
which de i es heo y om ac s.15 Dilke hus suppo ed empi icism and posi i ism,
and was somewha scep ical abou heo y – a epea ed e ain in he wo k.
Gi en Dilke’s posi i is sympa hies, in 1865 she a ou ably e iewed he Philosophy
o A , by he F ench aes he ician Hippoly e Taine, whose blend o posi i ism and
his o icism in luenced he conside ably. Fo Taine, one unde s ands an a wo k
by explaining i wi h e e ence o he a is ’s whole oeu e, in u n explained by
his school, in u n explained by he ‘mo al, social and […] poli ical condi ion o he
wo ld a ound’, a wo ld in cons an his o ical e olu ion.16 Thus, o Taine, a wo ks a e
ul ima ely p oduc s o he a is ’s his o ical en i onmen ; o unde s and a wo ks we
mus explain how hese ex e nal ac o s ha e p oduced and shaped hem.
Dilke ag ees: he business o aes he icians is o explain a wo ks by acing he causes
ac ing on hem and wo king ou he na u al laws o a ’s e olu ion. ‘No wo k o a ,
hen, is […] isola ed. The s a ing-poin o a ue philosophy mus necessa ily be ha
o he ensemble which su ounds he wo k, and o which i o ms a pa .’ She also
en huses o e Taine’s p ac ical ecommenda ions:
We ind, in he p inciples he e laid down, he clue o all ue and heal hy
p og ess. Taking na u e as he s anda d […] in he dep h and b ead h o
o ganic li e – we shall no longe be subjec o he complain ha a is
dead, o emain ensla ed o he […] con en ions o he pas .
Mo e speci ically, good a mus ake i s inspi a ion om he p esen day, o ‘ he a
o an age is he p esen a ion […] o i s eali y’. A e all, a is in a iably o i s age
anyway; a is s should ecognize and lean in o his eali y. Fo hen he a is will
depic indi iduals who embody he undamen al endencies o he ime, aising hese
indi iduals om me e indi iduals o ep esen a i e ypes.17
In sho , Dilke akes om Taine ha a wo ks mus be explained by he causal ac o s
shaping hem; ha hese causal ac o s a e hose o he his o ically e ol ing social
en i onmen , which mus be analysed empi ically; ha good a dis ils he ends o
i s ime in exempla y ypical indi iduals; and ha along his pa h nine een h-cen u y
a can become bo h mode n and i al. To cla i y: by ‘good’ a Dilke means a is ically
good, no mo ally good; she dis inguishes he a is ic (and aes he ic) good om he
mo ally good, as we will see.
In 1868 Dilke i s in oduces ha cen al aes he icis s and o hough , in a c i ical
e iew o Richa d S John Ty whi ’s Handbook o Pic o ial A , which p oposed ha
mode n a should be didac ic and educa e people by depic ing eal his o ical e en s.
Dilke objec s ha i only made sense o a o be ins uc i e in e as when mos people
we e illi e a e. Nowadays, a should be le ee o pu sue p ope ly aes he ic ends.
Ty whi ’s s ic u es would impose
14 Cha les Dilke, ‘Memoi ’, 12.
15 [Dilke], ‘A -Idea’, 219.
16 [Emilia Dilke], ‘Taine’s Philosophy o A ’, Sa u day Re iew, 21 Oc obe 1865, 520.
17 Ibid.

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an unnecessa y and un easonable y anny. In he kingdom o a ,
imagina ion is no he handmaid, bu he mis ess, o he unde s anding;
and wo k which is no done o i s own sake, in which he chie place is
claimed o he his o ical o he mo al, […] in which he con en s o m he
weigh ies pa , loses i s aes he ic cha ac e , and canno possess hose
poe ic elemen s which i e he ancy and ouse he emo ions.18
Dilke’s cen al objec ion o didac icism is ha i is inapp op ia e o he mode n wo ld.
Didac ic wo ks migh ha e been good a in he Middle Ages, bu hey ha e no place
oday.
This leads in o he essay ‘Religious A in he Nine een h Cen u y’, also om 1868.
She employs he Tainian concep ion o ideal ypes o sol e he p oblem o wha a
should do in an age whe e i has pa ed om eligion inexo ably. Fo me ly, Dilke says,
a and eligion we e ‘kni compac ly in uni y o o ganic li e’. Bu his uni y is now
los : ‘Religious a is now se e ed om he wo ld’s a ’. Religionis s look down on a ,
a is s ha e scan use o eligion, and bo h a e now de ached om wo ldly li e. Ye
we canno go back: ‘One eason why mos eligious a in he nine een h cen u y has
been a ailu e is ha i does no belong o he cen u y.’19
Dilke p oposes an al e na i e way o mode n a o egain a se ious and meaning ul
pu pose. ‘Pain e s w ongly suppose ha eligious a means a pe pe ual ep oduc ion
o Sain s and Holy Families, whe eas he subjec s a ising ou o daily expe ience’
would be mo e sui able. A is s should ake e e yday mode n indi iduals and aise
hem in o ypes exempli ying he age. This would yield a new ‘ideal ealism’ – no
me e na u alism, and no inding he supe na u al in he na u al, bu inding he
ypical in he indi idual and so gi ing daily eali ies p o ound meaning.20
In sum, Dilke opposes any subo dina ion o a o educa ion, eligion, o mo ali y on
he g ounds ha a has necessa ily sepa a ed om hese o he ac o s o e his o y
and ha , ins ead o looking backwa ds, we should make a ha is o i s ime and so
pu sues independen aes he ic goals. The mo i a ion o Dilke’s aes he icism, hen,
comes om he his o icis iew ha a should e lec i s e a and ha he mode n e a
is one in which a has become independen om o he aspec s o social li e.
III. DILKE’S AESTHETICISM
Dilke elabo a ed he e sion o aes he icism in he 1869 a icle ‘A and Mo ali y’,
published in he hea yweigh libe al jou nal he Wes mins e Re iew. I was anonymous,
his being he jou nal’s gene al policy, o which Dilke again ook ad an age. Os ensibly
a e iew o wo books by he F ench spi i ualis -cum-eclec ic Vic o Lap ade, Dilke
uses he 16,000-wo d piece o make a sus ained case o aes he icism – doing so,
no ably, ou yea s be o e he ex usually he alded as he mani es o o aes he icism
18 [Emilia Dilke], ‘A Handbook o Pic o ial A ’, Sa u day Re iew, 22 Augus 1868, 262.
19 [Emilia Dilke], ‘Religious A in he Nine een h Cen u y’, Sa u day Re iew, 12
Sep embe 1868, 361.
20 Ibid.
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in B i ain, he conclusion o Wal e Pa e ’s S udies in he His o y o he Renaissance o
1873.21
Dilke’s complex a gumen di ides in o s ages (she did no so di ide i he sel ; I am
doing so on he behal ).
C i ique o Lap ade, mo alism, and idealism.22 Si ua ing he sel in he B i ish empi icis
and sensualis adi ion, Dilke objec s o Lap ade’s demand ha a should p o ide
‘mo al ins uc ion and mo al ad ancemen ’ (AM, p. 184). Dilke sounds cau ion abou
aes he ic heo y al oge he – he e is oo much heo izing a ound, o he de imen o
a and ou esponses o i . Bu , despi e he ‘p e e ence o a is ic p oduce o e a is ic
heo y’, she mus heo ize in o de o comba he undesi able mo alis heo izing o
Lap ade and he b oade amily o idealis heo ies o which his belongs (AM, p. 149).
These heo ies dis inguish ideal beau y om me e senso y eali y by combining Pla o,
Desca es, and Reid (as he F ench eclec ics did) o pos ula e an idea o mo al beau y,
pe cei ed by God, o which physical beau y is me ely he symbol. Dilke eplies ha ,
i eal beau y is ideal and g asped by eason and no he senses, hen i is so a
emo ed om o dina y senso y beau y ha i is no p ope ly called ‘beau y’ a all;
hese heo is s ha e simply eplaced (senso y) beau y wi h (ideal) mo ali y.
Sensualis accoun o beau y (AM, pp. 160–68). Dilke concedes ha ejec ing de ec i e
heo ies is easy, bu one mus pu a be e accoun in place. ‘I we ha e sa is ied
ou sel es ha i is idle o iden i y ha which we call beau y wi h a eal anscenden al
pe ec ion cognizable by eason, his is he place o indica e […] wha we in ac mean
by he wo d’ (AM, p. 160). She p oposes ‘ o explain he na u e and g ow h o he
sen imen o beau y on a basis o sensa ion’ (AM, p. 161).
Sensa ions subdi ide in o:
1. Simple sensa ions p oduced in he body by single colou s, sounds, shapes, and
so on. Some o hese – ce ain colou s, cu ed lines, musical no es – p oduce
eelings o pleasu e in us. ‘Tha ce ain simple sensa ions […] a e a ended by
an o ganic pleasu e, mus be accep ed as a p imi i e pa o ou na u e’ (AM, p.
162). These simple pleasu es a e independen o any u he associa ions and
meanings we may a ach o he quali ies being sensed.
2. Compound o cogni i e sense-imp essions, in which one sensed quali y ecalls
o he s we associa e wi h i , as when a sound sugges s a wa e all o a smell
sugges s a ose. This is ‘ he s age when sensa ion acqui es an in ellec ual
cha ac e ’ (AM, p. 164). Some o hese associa ions also p oduce pleasu e, as
wi h he smell ha e okes he idea o an a ac i e ose. These a e associa i e
pleasu es as dis inc om simple pleasu es (AM, p. 162).
21 This aises a ques ion as o whe he Pa e was in luenced by Dilke. They p obably
in luenced one ano he owa ds aes he icism, o hey knew one ano he well in 1860s
Ox o d. Dilke, hen s ill ma ied o Ma k Pa ison, who was ec o o Lincoln College, hos ed
a ‘salon a he Rec o ’s lodgings, o which g a i a ed mos o he libe al and a ionalis
elemen o he Uni e si y. Pa e was o en a gues .’ See Law ence E ans, ‘In oduc ion’,
in Le e s o Wal e Pa e (Ox o d: Cla endon, 1970), xxxi . Cha les Dilke also no es hei
longs anding iendly ela ions (Cha les Dilke, ‘Memoi ’, 29–31) – e en a e Dilke’s
un a ou able e iew o Pa e ’s S udies in he His o y o he Renaissance, which led him o
ename i The Renaissance: S udies in A and Poe y. See also Hila y F ase , ‘Wal e Pa e
and Emilia Dilke’, in S udies in Wal e Pa e and Aes he icism 2 (2016): 21–30.
22 [Emilia Dilke], ‘A and Mo ali y’, Wes mins e Re iew 35 (1869): 149–60. He ea e : AM.
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The nucleus o beau y is in sensa ions ag eeable o sigh and hea ing (ei he simply
o associa i ely). Sigh and hea ing a e undamen al he e, no he o he senses,
because hey a e (1) unexclusi e: sounds and sigh s a e a ailable o many people
a he same ime, whe eas as es and smells a e mo e p i a e; (2) in ellec ual: sigh
and hea ing a e he mos cogni i e senses, ha is, iches in associa ions; (3) sou ces
o disin e es ed pleasu e: we ind ce ain sounds and sigh s pleasing i espec i e o
hei u ili y o us (one can ind a aging o en pleasing, while knowing one would
be in dange i one ell in; AM, p. 165). The pleasu es caused by he o he senses
only become ‘a is ic’ when hey a e joined o pleasu able sigh s and sounds. Fo
example, iewing a pain ing o a coun y scene may p oduce simple isual pleasu es
( om i s colou s and shapes), associa i e isual pleasu es (in he scene depic ed),
and by ex ension associa i e ol ac o y o gus a o y pleasu es (i one associa es he
scene depic ed wi h pleasing smells o esh g ass and as y picnics). The pleasu es
o smell and as e can hus be made unexclusi e, in ellec ual, and disin e es ed by
being a ached o pleasu es o sigh and sound, in which case he o me pleasu es
oo become aes he ic (AM, p. 166).
Addi ional quali ies can also become ‘ing edien s o he Beau i ul’: ha mony, u ili y,
i ness (sui abili y o means o ends), powe , and comple eness (AM, p. 167). These
quali ies become beau i ul ei he i we con empla e hem in eal-li e e en s in a
disin e es ed way o i hey a e p esen in ic ional e en s wi hin li e a y wo ks; o ,
again, i hey a e associa i ely sugges ed o us by he look o eal-li e isible hings o
i hey a e p esen in depic ed objec s in pic u es. Finally, no el y, a ie y, uni y, and
success ul imi a ion a e also componen s o beau y.
I Dilke’s iew o beau y begins o look a he c owded and dispa a e, we should
emembe ha o he i s basis is in he senses, as ollows:
1. We na u ally eel simple and associa i e pleasu es in some quali ies p esen ed
o ou sigh and hea ing, and hei pleasu ableness makes hese quali ies
beau i ul;
2. When o he pleasu able quali ies ( o example, smells) become a ached o
hese pleasu able senso y and audi o y quali ies, hey become beau i ul oo;
3. The abo e isual and audi o y quali ies a e public and in ellec ual ( ich in
associa ions), and gi e disin e es ed pleasu e;
4. When eal o a is ically depic ed e en s o objec s sha e in hose h ee
quali ies, hey become beau i ul oo.
Clea ly all his could be sc u inized u he , bu le me ollow Dilke, who immedia ely
p oceeds o he an i-mo alis implica ions:
F om an accoun o beau y such as he o egoing i is easy o deduce
consequences sub e si e o […] all heo ies ha would make mo al
imp o emen he end o ine a . I he di e en ial cha ac e o ine a is
i s powe o p oduce a ce ain kind o pleasu e, i will be guil y o o egoing
his cha ac e i i aims a p oducing some hing else. On he g ea p inciple
o he sepa a ion o unc ions, le mo al and in ellec ual agencies be
applied o u he he ends o i ue, a is ic agencies o u he he ends
o beau y. The ela ions o beau y o i ue a e hese: i ue is beau i ul
because i pleases; no , beau y pleases because i is i uous. (AM, p. 167)
A ’s p og essi e his o ical sepa a ion om eligion and mo ali y (AM, pp. 168–76).
Dilke now says ha he an i-mo alis conclusion needs o be ‘ o i ied by a e e ence
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o he his o y o he ine a s, and o he pa which he e hical o didac ic elemen
has ac ually played in hem’ (AM, p. 168). She concen a es on classical G eece and
medie al I aly. Ini ially G eek c a s en i ely se ed eligion, bo h wi h emples and
s a ues o he gods. Bu , o make wo ship appealing, c a speople began o ollow
a is ic mo i es: explo ing combina ions o colou s, adding deco a ion, deploying
con as s o ligh and shade. This p ope ly a is ic elemen was explo ed mo e and
mo e: ‘ he a is ic mo i e, he lo e o beau y o beau y’s sake’ (AM, p. 172). A he eby
became a p ope ly speaking, as dis inc om handic a (AM, pp. 168–69). Fo a ime
now a and eligion co-ope a ed, bu e en ually eligion became subo dina e, wi h
a is s me ely using eligious subjec s as hemes o a .
I alian Ch is ian a ollowed an iden ical cou se. A i s , pain ings and sculp u es
exal ed he sain s, angels, Ch is , and Ma y. Bu in ime ‘ he pleasu e which such
hings a e ound o gi e becomes a mo i e o i sel , and supplan s he glo y o God’
(AM, p. 174). A is s became in e es ed in colou i sel , in senso y de ails; eligious
and a is ic mo i es now co-exis ed and co-ope a ed. Bu in ime he a is ic mo i es
p e ailed, and so – in he Renaissance – a is s u ned o secula subjec s as well as
eligious ones, and educed he eligious subjec s o p e ex s o explo ing senso y
beau y.
A ’s disagg ega ion om eligion has been no me e change bu p og ess:
We can ace a p og essi e e olu ion [in I alian a ] en i ely analogous
o ha aceable in he case o G eek a […]. Tha which is depic ed by
ma u e a is no ‘man as a mo al being […]’ so much as man as a physical
being – man in possession o bodily pe ec ion […]. The p og ess o a ,
in sho , consis s in i s passage om he ep esen a ion o spi i o he
ep esen a ion o body. (AM, pp. 175–77)
Fo i s ime his s a emen is as onishing. The bes a does no ealize spi i o he ideal
bu is ha in which he senso y pleasu es o he body ha e escaped he dominance
o he idea.
This sensualis conclusion comes ou o Dilke’s posi i ism. He be Spence , o whom
she e e s, main ained ha e e y hing unde goes e olu ion, de ined as he ‘change
om an incohe en homogenei y o cohe en he e ogenei y’.23 Fo Dilke, applied o a
his means ha o e ime a becomes he e ogeneous om he eligious and mo al
mo i es wi h which i was o iginally mixed incohe en ly. A i s he e was only eligion
and handic a ; hen, in se ice o eligion, a is ic mo i es ( he pu sui o senso y
beau y) eme ged; hen hese mo i es become a o ce in hei own igh ; hen a is ic
mo i es educed eligion o a me e p e ex , whe eby he domains o a and eligion
became sepa a e.
Two cla i ica ions. Fi s , despi e his s ess on his o ical p og ess, Dilke’s accoun s o
bo h beau y and a ha e an ahis o ical aspec : wha we ind beau i ul depends pu ely
on he senses and is speci iable independen ly o his o y; and a ’s his o ical sepa a ion
om eligion is p og essi e because p e iously a was mixed wi h eligious mo i es
ha a e in insically he e ogeneous om p ope ly a is ic ones. The sepa a ion has
allowed a o become i sel – o ealize i s essen ial na u e as a . Second, al hough
Dilke se ou o ace wha pa he ‘e hical o didac ic elemen ’ played in a ’s
his o ical de elopmen , she ac ually ocuses on eligion. This was because in Vic o ian
23 He be Spence , Fi s P inciples (1862; London: Wa s, 1937), 325.
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added,34 con eying ha he a -his o ical u n was d i en by he own heo e ical
commi men s – indeed, in pa , he an i- heo e ical commi men s.
Scep icism abou heo y was an abiding e ain in Dilke’s hough . She epea edly
complained ha specula ion and excessi e sys ema iza ion comp omise ou abili y
bo h o obse e ac s and o app ecia e a wo ks’ senso y quali ies (see, o example,
AM, p. 149). Fo Dilke, we do no need heo y o app ecia e he beau i ul, because i is
buil om senso y, pe cep ible quali ies o which we a e o ganically esponsi e. No do
we need heo y o app ecia e he imeless human in e es in g ea wo ks. The mo e
aes he ic alue an a wo k has, he less we need heo y o app ecia e i .
Acco dingly Dilke saw no need o w i e books on a wo ks qua aes he ic objec s.
Whe e esea ch and explana ion we e needed was o ha majo i y o a wo ks ha
possess only his o ical in e es . The e, Dilke judged ha she could pe o m use ul
se ice. She says so o open and mo i a e he Renaissance o A in F ance:
The a o he F ench Renaissance depends o i s cha m on [ he] mo i e by
which i is anima ed. I is […] he exp ession […] o a pe iod when he li e
o he ew had become exceedingly ich and complex. I canno , he e o e,
be app ecia ed by a wide public, and equi es pe haps mo e han he
a o any o he ime a knowledge o he condi ions unde which i was
p oduced in o de o a i e a an app ecia ion o i s excellence. A is he
speech o he people only i s mos abs ac o ms. When i p esen s, o
example, a ype o physical beau y una ec ed by any mo al agen – as in
he An inous – o when i ende s a physical ideal in which is embodied a
concep ion o mo al beau y – as in he Niobe, o he Sis ine Madonna, […] –
a is uni e sally in elligible. I is a ongue which knows no accen . […] The
wo k o he F ench Renaissance sca cely, howe e , a o ds any ins ance o
his […]; bu i is, on he o he hand, ich in local colou , and con ains […] an
abundan sou ce o in e es o hose who ead i in he signs o he ime a
which i was p oduced.35
In o he wo ds, whe e a ealizes senso y quali ies o beau y o p esen s uni e sal
human in e es , i anscends his o y, and e e yone can ela e o his kind o a
immedia ely. Bu mos a does no achie e his and emains his o ically bound, as
wi h F ench Renaissance a . To app ecia e such a , we need his o ical knowledge.
Gi en Dilke’s an eceden posi i ism and empi icism, ha means empi ical knowledge
abou he ‘condi ions unde which [ he a ] was p oduced’. The co ec explana o y
ou e is om ac s o meanings, no ice e sa.
Dilke’s a his o y books a e no de oid o aes he ic insigh s, bu he o e a ching
p ojec is o p o ide his o ical explana ion h ough de ailed, pa ien , documen a y
accoun ing o causal o ces and sou ces. The aes he ic elemen s supplemen he
his o y. Dilke’s ansi ion om aes he ics o a his o y was he eby comple e. She
made ha ansi ion on philosophical g ounds – bu i onically he philosophical
s andpoin led he o abandon philosophy o a his o y.
Al hough Dilke concluded ha she mus lea e aes he ics behind, we need no ollow
he , o he aes he ic heo izing e ains in e es in i s own igh . I includes a sus ained
34 Le e om Dilke o Ge ude Tuckwell, n. d., MS Pa ison 140, Pa ison Pape s,
Bodleian Lib a y, Ox o d.
35 Dilke, Renaissance o A in F ance, 1–2.

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de ence o he aes he icis hesis ha a ’s pu pose is o be beau i ul; an o iginal
a emp o combine his o icism and aes he icism; an empi icis and sensualis
accoun o beau y; a claim ha a ma u es he mo e i sepa a es om eligion and
mo ali y and ocuses on he body, no he spi i ; and an o iginal axonomy o he ‘uses’
o pic u es, dis inguishing be ween aes he ic, poe ic-li e a y, and his o ical alue. On
all hese coun s, Dilke dese es o be ecognized as a signi ican emale con ibu o o
he his o y o aes he ics.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I hank he e e ees o hei e y help ul commen s.
COMPETING INTERESTS
The au ho has no compe ing in e es s o decla e.
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TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
Alison S one. ‘Emilia Dilke
on Aes he ics.’ Es e ika:
The Eu opean Jou nal o
Aes he ics LX/XVI, no. 1
(2023): pp. 1–18. DOI:
h ps://doi.o g/10.33134/
eeja.328
Submi ed: 24 Feb ua y
2022
Accep ed: 06 Sep embe
2022
Published: 15 Ma ch 2023
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