
Contents
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1. Life as Art 1. Life as Art
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2. The Poetic Attitude 2. The Poetic Attitude
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A. Wordsworth and Mill A. Wordsworth and Mill
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B. Ruskin and Mill B. Ruskin and Mill
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C. Embodying the Poetic Attitude Toward Life: The Religion of Humanity C. Embodying the Poetic Attitude Toward Life: The Religion of Humanity
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3. Promoting Life as Art 3. Promoting Life as Art
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A. Institutions A. Institutions
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B. Periodical Literature/Newspapers B. Periodical Literature/Newspapers
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C. Teaching History C. Teaching History
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D. The “Poetical and Artistic” D. The “Poetical and Artistic”
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4. Further Considerations 4. Further Considerations
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A. Therapeutic Philosophy A. Therapeutic Philosophy
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B. Humanism B. Humanism
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C. Mill and Modern Political Epicureanism C. Mill and Modern Political Epicureanism
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Notes Notes
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Bibliography Bibliography
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11 11 Mill, Life as Art, and Problems of Self-Description in an Industrial Age
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Published:November 2010
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Abstract
This chapter notes Mill's puzzling but frequent suggestion that life should be seen as a work of art and argues that the attractiveness of this metaphor arises from Victorian anxieties about industrialization, urbanization, and their effects, which included selfishness and despair. It goes on to analyze what it means for Mill to think of life as art, drawing particularly on his writings on aesthetics and on Comte's Religion of Humanity. These writings show that a key to turning one's life into a work of art is redescribing it as part of something larger, nobler, and longer lasting (e.g., an idealized humanity). The chapter concludes by identifying some of the causes (personal and social) that sustain and make these new self-descriptions possible and by showing how this analysis illuminates Mill's thought and brings out unfamiliar characteristics of it.
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