Reforming utilitarianism: Lyric poetry in J. S. Mill’s “thoughts on poetry and its varieties” and autobiography

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Mill’s statement that “poetry is overheard” is often read as a definition of the lyric in miniature and is associated with social retreat. Yet Mill saw his encounter with the Wordsworthian lyric as a corrective to utilitarian social theory, and as a supplement to Adam Smith’s theory of sympathy. Mill suggests that the writings of James Mill and Jeremy Bentham overlook the bond connecting individuals to one another. He reconceives communal aspects of feeling by drawing on Wordsworth’s poetry as the fulfillment of Smith’s affective account of social relations, a development which anticipates affect theory.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)599-620
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of the History of Ideas
Volume81
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© by Journal of the History of Ideas.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reforming utilitarianism: Lyric poetry in J. S. Mill’s “thoughts on poetry and its varieties” and autobiography'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this