Mill, Life as Art, and Problems of Self-Description in an Industrial Age

The Art of Writing in the Republic of Philosophy

“…Somewhat less obviously, John Stuart Mill ([1867]) argued that reading creative literature is indispensible to our development as autonomous adults with life‐plans. Like many Romantics, Mill worried about the dehumanising effects of modern industrial life (Heydt, ). Reading creative literature takes us out of the daily grind and into the world of the work where we experience the drama and passion of our own thought.…”

“…Reading creative literature takes us out of the daily grind and into the world of the work where we experience the drama and passion of our own thought. In other words, reading creative literature cultivates interiority—a heightened awareness of our own ‘intellectual and affective resources’ (Heydt, , p. 269). This in turn cultivates a sense of our self, as a self, with interests and values, and a life to plan.…”