Coleridge's Republicanism and the Aphorism in "Aids to Reflection"

Abstract

IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, AIDS TO REFLECTION MAY HAVE BEEN Coleridge's most influential work of prose. On both sides of Atlantic, Aids's psychology of Reason (the and substance of truths above sense) and the Understanding (the faculty which judges according to sense) persuaded many readers of value of spiritual as well as intellectual reflection at a time otherwise dominated Wesleyan enthusiasm, Calvinist reaction, and Unitarian rationalism. Perhaps best proof of this 1825 book's inspiration is variety of Victorian intellectual movements it spawned, including Cambridge Apostles, Broad Churchmen, Oxford Movement, American Transcendentalists, and even American Pragmatism.(1) The tremendous reach of Aids into nineteenth century confirms John Stuart Mill's assurance in his 1840 essay on that one has contributed more to shape opinions of those among its younger men.(2) One overlooked but potential source of book's great influence is its genre. A collection of aphorisms, Aids was among first in a small renaissance of form in 1820s and '30s, prompting Mill to examine trend in an 1837 article for Westminster Review. And, yet, no modern critic has examined Coleridge's use of aphorism in Aids. This neglect may seem surprising at first. Why, for example, have no critics investigated apparent paradox of Coleridge's bemoaning in 1817 corruption of metaphysics by certain immethodical aphorisming Eclectics and his turning in 1825 to this practice himself?(3) Two modern critical convictions, I think, make such an investigation seem unnecessary. The first conviction is that Coleridge could finish no project, so that, as Thomas McFarland puts it, choice for him was often between neurotically constructed vehicles and no publication at all. One therefore reads Coleridge's prose with a certain generosity about matters of form.(4) The second conviction--based upon a large critical is that English romantics wrote fragments, not aphorisms (as Coleridge insists on calling them in Aids). Along with maxims, aphorisms are assumed to be part of a wisdom literature that was little more than a fashion in early Victorian period.(5) The first critical conviction--that Coleridge's generic choices were always desultory or localized plans (McFarland 3)--is generally well-founded. However, in letters about production of Aids as well as in Aids itself, Coleridge does state specific reasons for using aphorism that have yet to be explored. These reasons, I will argue, recall distinctly reasons Coleridge gives for using others genres in his experimental newspaper of 1809--10, The Friend. The second critical conviction--that romantics wrote fragments, Victorians aphorisms--will be held to one side for most of this article, which examines instead continuity of Coleridge's thought in 1795 lectures, 1809-10 Friend, and--taking into account purpose of its aphorisms--the 1825 Aids. However, my conclusion--that Coleridge's political legacy to Victorians (based on a brief analysis of Mill's 1840 essay) must be judged as something closer to republican than conservative--suggests that generic periodization supported second conviction obscures what Coleridge was formally and consistently trying to accomplish in his prose writings over course of his career. Modern Republicanism and Coleridge's Early Prose Republicans view humans as political beings who realize their full potential through acts of civic virtue that sustain republics.(6) Republicans therefore prize humans as citizens, those who rule and are ruled, as Aristotle put it. In modern era, historians have identified two versions of republicanism, classical and liberal. Classical republicanism originated with Machiavelli. Noting how professional armies tended to corrupt republics (i. …