Online Texts: John Stuart Mill, Theism
Written between 1868 and 1870, Theism is the last of Mill’s three Essays on Religion. In it, Mill attempts a thoroughly scientific treatment of natural theology.
Synopsis
In his Introduction, Mill comments on the changing nature of religious debate in his time. He observed that such debates were less violent than they had been previously, that the arguments against religion had shifted in their emphasis from abstract logic to science, and a greater acceptance of the idea that religion is a cultural phenomenon. He commits himself to a thoroughly scientific treatment of the question of the truth or falsehood of religion.
The proceeding chapter, Theism, begins with an argument that monotheism is a more scientific version of theism than polytheism, and then sets the terms for the investigation of theism. Mill contrasts the hypothesis that there is a God who governs the world by variable acts of will, with the hypothesis that there is a God who governs the world by invariable laws; the former, he says, is radically inconsistent with the results of science, and so the latter is that which is to be investigated.
The Evidences of Theism contrasts a priori and a posteriori approaches to proving theism. Mill expresses a strong preference for a posteriori approaches; this, for Mill, is the truly scientific method.
Argument for a First Cause examines a form of cosmological argument.
The Argument from the General Consent of Mankind is an appeal to consensus; Mill suggests that this argument’s intuitive appeal goes far beyond its actual evidential strength.
Mill’s chapter entitled “The Argument from Consciousness” begins with a consideration of a Cartesian ontological argument, and moves to discuss a Kantian moral argument for God’s existence. Neither is deemed substantial.
Mill sees The Argument from Marks of Design in Nature as the strongest of the arguments for theism. This argument, he believes is successful in proving that the existence of a Creator is probable, but fails to establish specific details concerning the nature of that Creator.
Part II, Attributes, moves from the question as to what science can tell us of the existence of God, to the question as to what science can tell us of the nature of God.
Part III, Immortality, considers the afterlife. Mill argues that though we cannot rule out a Christian view, neither to we have much scientific support for it; these beliefs can only be speculative.
Part IV, Revelation, assesses the credibility of claims that God has revealed his will to us.
Mill concludes by setting out his General Result, emphasising the formative value of freeing one’s imagination.