Victorian Literature: Sixty Years of Books and BookmenShorter, Clement King
History
Victorian Literature: Sixty Years of Books and Bookmen
Shorter, Clement King
English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
impossible not to sympathize with such an illusion. Mrs Mill died in
1858, and was buried at Avignon, in France, where Mill himself spent
many of the later years of his life, and where he died in 1873. It was
at Avignon that the Crown Princess of Prussia and the Princess Alice of
Hesse proposed to visit him, when he, with due courtesy, declined to see
them.
Mill's works, which are very extensive, deal with philosophical,
psychological, economical, and political problems. His "Logic" was
published in 1843, his "Essays on Unsettled Questions in Political
Economy" in 1844, his "Principles of Political Economy" in 1848, and his
"Liberty" in 1858. In 1865 he published his "Examination of Sir William
Hamilton's Philosophy." Four volumes of "Dissertations and Discussions"
appeared between 1859 and 1867, and "Considerations on Representative
Government" in 1861. In 1865 he entered Parliament as Member for
Westminster, losing his seat, however, in 1868. It would be hard to
speak too highly of Mill. As a man he was all kindliness and considerate
thoughtfulness for others, and his ideal of life was a very high one.
Carlyle's Letters, Caroline Fox's Memoirs, and many other sources of
information, make this clear. On the literary side he will be variously
estimated, as we survey him from one or other aspect of his many-sided
career. As a stimulator of public opinion the work he did was enormous.
This is not the place to discuss the value of this or that movement
associated with his name; but there can be no doubt that many questions,
like the reform of the land laws, were initiated by him. In the
seventies his philosophy dominated Oxford. It is of no account to-day.
On the philosophical side Mill's position is weakened by his ignorance
of the more simple sciences, which we now know to be of the greatest
moment in the study of intellectual problems. Mill knew little of
physics, and of biology still less. His education in this respect
belonged to the old-fashioned type. His work in logic is all but
unshaken, although his book has been superseded for school and college
use. His psychology, however, his ethics, much of his economics, and
above all, his metaphysics, must be corrected by later ideas. Doubtless
Mill's readjustments in mental science are most valuable, especially his
rehandling of the old doctrines; but fundamentally these are Hume's.
Mill's chief philosophical work was destructive. He utterly routed the
remnants of a still earlier philosophy, furbished up with all the
knowledge and all the acuteness of Sir William Hamilton. But the great
generalizations which have changed the whole drift of our philosophy are
the Conservation of Energy, and Evolution, including as the latter does
the laws and conditions of life, and in particular the doctrine of
Heredity. For adequate philosophical guidance on these subjects we must
turn to Herbert Spencer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account