John Stuart Mill and the Art of Life

The "Art of Life" is John Stuart Mill's name for his account of practical reason. In this volume, eleven leading scholars elucidate this fundamental, but widely neglected, element of Mill's thought. Mill divides the Art of Life into three "departments" "Morality, Prudence or Policy, and Aesthetics."

In the volume's first section, Rex Martin, David Weinstein, Ben Eggleston, and Dale E. Miller investigate the relation between the departments of morality and prudence. Their papers ask whether Mill is a rule utilitarian and, if so, whether his practical philosophy must be incoherent.

The second section contains papers by Jonathan Riley and Wendy Donner, who explore the relation between the departments of morality and aesthetics. They discuss issues ranging from supererogation to aesthetic pleasure and humanity's relationship with nature.

The papers in the third section consider the Art of Life's axiological first principle, the principle of utility. Elijah Millgram contends that Mill's own life refutes his claim that the Art of Life has a single axiological first principle. Philip Kitcher maintains that Mill has a dynamic axiology requiring us to continually refine our conception of the good. In the final section, three papers address what it means to put the Art of Life into practice. Robert Haraldsson locates an 'Art of Ethics' in On Liberty that is in tension with the Art of Life. Nadia Urbinati plumbs the classical roots of Mill's view of the good life. Finally, Colin Heydt develops Mill's suggestion that we regard our own lives as works of art.


Author: Ben Eggleston
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 08/01/2012
Pages: 314
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780199931972

About the Author

Ben Eggleston is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kansas.

Dale E. Miller is Professor of Philosophy at Old Dominion University.

David Weinstein is Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest University.

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