John Stuart Mill and the Art of Life

Abstract

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 Æsthetics.” The first section investigates the relation between the departments of morality and prudence. The chapters ask whether Mill is a rule utilitarian and, if so, whether his practical philosophy must be incoherent. The second section explores the relation between the departments of morality and aesthetics. It discusses issues ranging from supererogation to aesthetic pleasure and humanity's relationship with nature. The chapters in the third section consider the Art of Life's axiological first principle, the principle of utility. This part of the book contends that Mill's own life refutes his claim that the Art of Life has a single axiological first principle. It then maintains that Mill has a dynamic axiology requiring us to continually refine our conception of the good. In the final section, three chapters address what it means to put the Art of Life into practice. Firstly, this part of the book locates an “art of ethics” in On Liberty that is in tension with the Art of Life. It then plumbs the classical roots of Mill's view of the good life. Finally, the book develops Mill's suggestion that we regard our own lives as works of art.