Lewes, George Henry (1817–1878)

English philosopher and critic. Originally an actor, he turned to literature and philosophy; his works include a Biographical History of Philosophy (1845–46) and Life and Works of Goethe (1855), which became a standard authority on the subject both in England and Germany. He married in 1840, but left his wife in 1854 to live with the writer Marian Evans (George Eliot), whom he had met in 1851.

He was born in London. He began to contribute to the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews in the 1840s, and continued to do so for many years. Other works include his Physiology of Common Life (1859–60) and Problems of Life and Mind (1873–79). He was editor of the Fortnightly Review from 1865–66.