Millâs 'Autobiography' was considered too shocking to publish while he was alive. Behind his musings on many of the philosophical and political preoccupations of his time lie the confessions of a deeply repressed man who knows that heâs deeply repressed, coming to terms with the uncompromising educational experiment his father subjected him to as a child â described by Isaiah Berlin as âan appalling successâ. In this episode Jonathan and James discuss Millâs startlingly honest account of this experience and the breakdown that ensued in his 20s, and the boldness of his life and thought from his views on socialism and the rights of women to his unwavering devotion to his wife, Harriet Taylor, the co-author of 'On Liberty' and other works.
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Further reading in the LRB:
Sissela Bok on Mill's 'Autobiography':
â https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v06/n06/sissela-bok/his-father-s-childrenâ
Alasdair MacIntyre: Mill's Forgotten Victory
â https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n20/alasdair-macintyre/john-stuart-mill-s-forgotten-victoryâ
Panbkaj Mishra: Bland Fanatics
â https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n23/pankaj-mishra/bland-fanaticsâ
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F.H. Bradley's 'My Station and Its Duties' can be found online here:
â https://archive.org/details/ethicalstudies0000brad/page/160/mode/2upâ
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