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In this talk I introduce the moral philosophy of Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904). A prolific author, Cobbe was instrumental in the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act (1878).

In this talk I introduce the moral philosophy of Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904). A prolific author, Cobbe was instrumental in the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act (1878) and founded the Victoria Street Society (1875; still existing as the National Anti-Vivisection Society) and the British Union Against Vivisection (1898; still existing as Cruelty Free International). An interlocutor of John Stuart Mill and Charles Darwin, Cobbe used her original interpretation of Kantian “intuitive morality” to shift public opinion on domestic abuse, divorce law, women’s right to higher education, and animal welfare, challenging the narrative that utilitarians held a monopoly on these issues.