Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd

Well there were six, they were quite humanistic in tone, but whether they were great or essays as I know them is debatable. However, for arguments sake I will call them essays, and of the six of them one defines poetry, one is about Bentham, one is about Colleridge, one is on Liberty, one is called Utilitarianism, and the last one is the acceptance speech he gave when he was appointed rector of a university.

There was nothing in this collection that really jumped out at me. While it might be good to attempt to define poetry, to me poetry is poetry and to write an essays trying to explain what poetry is, to me, a waste of time. His essay on Bentham was rubbish as he spent most of his time singing the guy's praises: about how much Bentham has attributed to human knowledge. Beyond that it really didn't say all that much. His writings on liberty was somewhat better, but Utilitarianism was a defense of his philosophy, and it was once again nothing that I really want to write too much about. The final essay was okay because of his attitude towards education, and that is because he sees education more beneficial when it is a general education included with a professional education rather than going to university simply to learn a profession to make money once one leaves (which is what most, if not all, universities have degenerated into these days).

I want to make mention on his attitude to religion. I note that in his later writings (such as Utilitarianism) he is attempting to reach out to Christians, however Mills is an Athiest (which is the feeling that I got from his writings). He is not antagonistic towards Christianity, or religion in general, but rather believes that humanity (at this point in time) had moved beyond the need for religion. Indeed Mills is critical on some of the things that the English government is holding onto (such as not allowing anybody to sit in parliament unless they have communion the Anglican Church, or not allowing any non-Anglican to give testimony in a court of law).