John Stuart Mill and the Political Arts.

This paper traces the development of the concept of "political arts" within several of John Stuart Mill's texts. Mill is commonly classified as a liberal utilitarian who was also preoccupied with establishing the basis for social science in service to the cause of social progress. Recently, scholars have questioned the image of Mill as a "typical liberal." In order to extend such revisionary work, I have undertaken an examination of his writings about social science. What I have found is a skepticism regarding the possibility of a science of politics as a precursor to the political arts. Instead of criticizing Mill for his "failure" to illuminate the proper relationship between these two activities, I contend that there is much to learn through exposing the reasons for Mill's uncertainty. The tension between the science and art of politics is brought to light through a focus on Mill's mode of theorizing - the way in which Mill employs ambiguity and "many-sidedness" within and across his works. This mode of theorizing is especially effective within his political writings. While Mill explicitly advocates for the authority of science in politics, he implicitly acknowledges that the (democratic) political world erects many barriers to scientific knowledge about its workings. Mill's work on the political arts is worthy of consideration as it captures the difficulties involved in the application of political science within a democratic society. I conclude that Mill was correct to frame his writings with a scientific basis for the political arts - even if such a project is actually futile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]