Mill, Socialism and the English Romantics: An Interpretation.

Among the many writers who tout John Stuart Mill as one of the most outstanding figures of the nineteenth century, there exists something of a fascination with the influences that played upon his life and thought. His thought is, after all, complex, drawn from many sources, and interwoven into a set of theories uniquely his own. The purpose of this paper is to argue that, owing largely to the influence of the English romantics, Mill fundamentally altered his world view and system of thought, and that his investigation of socialism derived primarily from these transformed views.
We have from Mill's own Autobiography his version of the evolution of his intellectual development which he centred in his mental breakdown. He wrote of his extraordinary education, his crisis, his discovery of Wordsworth's poetry; of his intellectual excitement over Comte's works and the new ideas of socialism from the Continent; and, of course, of Harriet Taylor. In short, he reviewed all the important influences on his life and thought which effected the healing process and which launched him in a life-long pursuit of "incessantly weaving ... anew" the fabric of his old ideas and education (Mill, 1965, p. 96). It is this last quality that makes necessary an evolutionary approach to any study of Mill and his work. One must stay with him all the way or be found in dangerous waters of misconception and misrepresentation.
Up to now, a "look behind the scenes" of the formative process of Mill's intellect has been somewhat unsatisfying. In fact, a literary debate abounds concerning the correct claimant of Mill's ideological "soul". For example, Mill declared that he was a socialist, but Pedro Schwartz (1972) has denied it.[1] And Emery Neff (1924) disputed Carlyle's claim of converting Mill from utilitarianism to romanticism and stated that Comte's thought was the change-agent in Mill's philosophy. Again, several recent papers make strong assertions concerning the conclusiveness... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]