John Stuart Mill and the meaning of life / Elijah Millgram.
2019
B1607 .M53 2019
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Details
Title
John Stuart Mill and the meaning of life / Elijah Millgram.
Author
ISBN
9780190873271 (electronic book)
Published
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource : illustrations.
Call Number
B1607 .M53 2019
Dewey Decimal Classification
192
Summary
The popular view that the meaning of a life should be a project is assessed by examining a life that did have that shape. John Stuart Mill's utilitarian life project is described, and is argued to be a best representative of the class. Turning points and unusual features of Mill's life are shown to be side effects or preconditions of having a very large project center stage in it. Life projects are motivated as satisfying a coherence requirement imposed on the valuable elements of a life. But Mill's biography demonstrates that living out one's life as a project undermines its coherence. The overunified life, it is concluded, is to be avoided, and the meaningfulness of a life is best reconceived so as to give it application in the lives of loosely organized agents.
Note
Also issued in print: 2019.
The popular view that the meaning of a life should be a project is assessed by examining a life that did have that shape. John Stuart Mill's utilitarian life project is described, and is argued to be a best representative of the class. Turning points and unusual features of Mill's life are shown to be side effects or preconditions of having a very large project center stage in it. Life projects are motivated as satisfying a coherence requirement imposed on the valuable elements of a life. But Mill's biography demonstrates that living out one's life as a project undermines its coherence. The overunified life, it is concluded, is to be avoided, and the meaningfulness of a life is best reconceived so as to give it application in the lives of loosely organized agents.
The popular view that the meaning of a life should be a project is assessed by examining a life that did have that shape. John Stuart Mill's utilitarian life project is described, and is argued to be a best representative of the class. Turning points and unusual features of Mill's life are shown to be side effects or preconditions of having a very large project center stage in it. Life projects are motivated as satisfying a coherence requirement imposed on the valuable elements of a life. But Mill's biography demonstrates that living out one's life as a project undermines its coherence. The overunified life, it is concluded, is to be avoided, and the meaningfulness of a life is best reconceived so as to give it application in the lives of loosely organized agents.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on July 5, 2019).
Series
Oxford scholarship online.
Available in Other Form
Print version: 9780190873240
Linked Resources
Record Appears in