Can We Still Take Shaw Seriously?

Can we still take Shaw seriously? In terms of his views on medicine and science, philosophy and religion, the answer has to be "no." On economics and politics, the issue is more doubtful, but there too, probably, the answer must also be "no." It is hardly surprising that it should be so. Shaw was born in 1856 and lived almost half of his long life in the reign of Queen Victoria. Many of his opinions were formed early, and though modified and developed later, almost never fundamentally altered. Times change and we change with them, so all of seventy years after Shaw's death in 1950, it might well be expected that the immutable Shavian positions should look outmoded. This article explores why Shaw came to adopt the intransigent opinions he did, and how his no longer fashionable ideas affect our reception of his plays.