ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I suggest that a significant line of influence from John Stuart Mill has been under-researched and had more impact on the thought of William James than has been commonly recognized. Examining the similar biographical stories and intellectual influences of the two men, especially those that both drew from Wordsworth and Goethe, I will examine the influence of Mill on William James’s psychology and philosophy. I argue that Mill’s Romantic influences, his approach to truth and the notion of human flourishing implicit in his philosophy were echoed in James’s pragmatic naturalism and his moral perspective. Accordingly, I suggest that we may better understand various aspects of James’s pragmatist moral psychology, ideals of human development and epistemology if we more fully take into account the impact of Mill.
