254:(1983) is a hybrid. Miller consciously sought a middle route through the oppositions of realism and idealism as well as pragmatism and idealism. It is a synthesis and revision of those contesting positions. For Miller philosophy was not the means of removing strife but, rather, the recognition and thoughtful organization of conflict. "To philosophize," Miller wrote, "is to be in thoughtful control of a problem." One important way of describing his thinking, then, is to say that Miller's philosophical synthesis does not effectively resolve the conflicts of his predecessors but shows the philosophical import of their disputes and the way in which their contests outline what must be ingredient in any worthwhile philosophy. His conception defines
319:. What are these universals that are part of the process of definition? How do they arise? How do they relate to particulars? Millerâs response to these age-old questions was to say that universals are always embodied and they are always applied (and so made evident) in action. Just so, the idea of space is established in measuring devices like rulers. Instruments such as clocks determine the idea of time. The idea of justice is founded in judicial courts. Rulers, clocks, courtsâthese are all symbolic objects or practices. They are also
295:
Definition thus ties in with pragmatism. But Miller was careful to underscore that his appropriation of pragmatism was not a crude pragmatism of simple meansâends thinking. Rather Miller saw the fundamental practicality of universal ideas and fundamental concepts which provide general order to our world (e.g., mathematics, language) but which are, on their face, not useful in any immediate sense. Definition links together individual actors and universal concepts in an existential dialectic in which meaning is established and revised.
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not derive from and speak to our pressing concerns for personal order, meaning, and right action. Because Millerâs philosophy is fundamentally a philosophy of criticism, if we are to grasp the conditions of our endeavors (and thus have self-conscious and responsible lives) then our philosophy must be historical and go to the midworld as the historical career of those very conditions. Philosophy and history not only must come together but also, considered in the appropriate light, are the same.
48:
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For Miller philosophy was a mode of utterance wherein one actually speaks (i.e., expresses himself) and takes responsibility for what is said (i.e., reflects upon himself). Short of making both of these commitmentsâi.e., to expression and reflectionâhonest conversation is no more possible than is philosophy. The speech of the classroom serves to highlight the philosophical bases of conversation.
423:, Miller passed his latter years quietly, conducting philosophy in the form of conversation and correspondence much as he had during his teaching career. Miller continued to write and clarify his philosophical position right up until his death on December 25, 1978. He was buried in the Westlawn Cemetery just west of the Williams College campus.
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worlds of experience but is in fact their condition of appearance. The symbols of the midworld are the vehicles by which we define ourselves, define our world, and engage in the ongoing process by which those definitions are revised in light of our discoveries about the world and our new demands for local control
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this was something that recommended the ahistoricism of philosophy. Miller not only questioned the fundamental premises of ahistoric philosophy by arguing that every observation or thought is an action and thus an engagement in history but he also cast doubt on the relevance of a philosophy that does
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A critical philosophy becomes a political philosophy by virtue of our involvement in a community. Historical and philosophical thought can be individual and the sort of responsibility about which Miller wrote is in an important sense a responsibility of an individual to and for herself. However, the
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There was also no separating Millerâs historical idealism from his pedagogical philosophy. He was known to say, "I cannot understand a man unless I take him at his word." Classroom discussion, the civil exchange of ideas, and having a personal stake in each philosophical conversation were essential.
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was also an important influence on the
American side. In 1921 Miller received his master's degree and, under the direction of Hocking, went on to compose a work on the fundamental connection among epistemology, semiotics, and ontology. This work, titled "The Definition of the Thing," earned him the
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anything. The midworld is not halfway between subjectivity and objectivity, the ideal and the real, or the natural and the artificial. It is more accurate to say that the functioning object is that thing which allows for one to disclose the subjective and the objective; it is not between these two
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and a defined thing that is fundamentally ahistorical. Unless definition is considered in this manner, Miller argued, we cannot make sense of 1) our own participation in the process and the establishment of meaning, and 2) the evolution and constant refinement of our understanding of things in the
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idea of an open society. Here Miller revisited the traditional connection between liberal democratic politics and the scientific community in which free and respectful speech is licensed, formal modes of criticism are supported, and orderly change and development is a key goal. In order to affect
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and continued his practice of philosophical conversation. However, the years of his retirement found Miller faced with the strong encouragement of a handful of former students who urged him to publish the four public addresses just mentioned and some of the many essays that he had penned over the
168:
It was as a teacher and not as a scholar that Miller was best known initially. Indeed, his reputation as a thinker spread via his teaching practice and the modest fame that came to him by means of the accounts of his former students. (See George
Brockwayâs essay on Miller, first published in the
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in 1937â1938, Millerâs teaching career was spent at
Williams College until his retirement in 1960. He served as chair of the philosophy department from 1931 to 1955 and influenced three generations of students. (Miller was often selected by graduating classes as the most influential professor at
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for his sophomore and junior years, and then returned to
Cambridge, Massachusetts, for his senior year. Miller received his A. B. from Harvard in 1916. At the onset of American involvement in the First World War, Miller declared himself a conscientious objector and served as a volunteer in the
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The process of definition is founded on human action and meaning understood as "meaning for a human actor." At the bottom of definition is, Miller contended, an unending search for local controlâi.e., an understanding of oneself and oneâs world that was adequate to support a plan of action.
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Ultimately, for Miller, there is a convergence of historical study and political action. Scholarship and citizenship are two sides of the same coin in that they are two facets of an active and responsible lifeâi.e., understanding and then engaging with conditions of oneâs endeavors.
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As stated above, Millerâs philosophy unites philosophical thinking and historical thinking. In doing so he fully integrated concepts of action and symbolism into his epistemology and metaphysics. The fruits of this approach are seen in his ethical and political philosophy.
206:, 1952). This small number of essays and statements made available to public audiences belied the fact that in private Miller was a prodigious writer who was actively at work developing a coherent philosophical system organized around his central concept,
370:) which joins philosophy with the timeless. However, as Miller noted, if philosophy is ahistoric then all philosophy can produce are observations. Philosophy cannot be related to or relevant for action. Of course, for proponents of the
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Williams and twice the college yearbook was dedicated to him.) From 1945 on he was Mark
Hopkins Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, a title inherited from his colleague and predecessor as chair, the critical realist
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and 2) to integrate philosophical thought and historical thought. As testimony to the integrative nature of his thinking, Miller referred to his philosophy as a "historical idealismâ and a ânaturalistic idealism.â
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concept of the individual begs its pair in society and political institutions, and so critical ethics must become critical politics. It is in this fashion that Millerâs historical idealism can be understood as a
189:.) However, because he focused on his teaching and did most of his writing in the context of preparing lecturers and philosophical correspondence, Miller did not focus on formal scholarly publication.
198:: "The Paradox of Cause" (1935) and "Accidents Will Happen" (1937). After these two publications, he presented four public papers: "Freedom as a Characteristic of Man in a Democratic Society" (
398:
The ideal community provides people with the chance to act, the chance to be effective and become historical actors who maintain or revise the conditions of their endeavors. As one can see in
202:, Chicago, 1938), "History and Humanism" (Harvard Philosophy Club, 1948), "The Midworld" (Harvard Philosophy Club, 1952), and "The Scholar as Man of the World" (Phi Beta Kappa Society,
210:. It would not be until his retirement that he would gather his writings and begin to make his historical idealism known to people other than his students and occasional auditors.
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Definition is a historical process and the symbols of the midworld have historical careers. The need to generate, maintain, and revise meanings is one way of understanding
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in the sense that a ruler is only different from another piece of wood in terms of what one does with it; they are symbolic objects that exist in use and in no other way.
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152:, semiotics, and political philosophy. Perhaps his greatest innovation in the classroom was the introduction of a course in the philosophy of history at a time when
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to have enough flexibility to include regularized practices and natural bodies such as the human organism). This open-ended collection of symbols is also not truly
92:. It is still fair to say, however, that Millerâs strongest philosophical influences dated from the 19th century and were, most prominently, the German idealists
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that he drew a close connection between historical thinking and philosophical thinking. He did this in contrast to an ancient tradition (beginning at least with
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that, in both politics and science, Miller maintained that, as noted above, a historical and symbolic conception of rationality has to be endorsed.
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After the war, Miller returned to
Harvard to begin graduate studies in philosophy. Among his teachers were philosophical realists such as
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world. There is a dynamic relationship between the universal and particular, the terms of definition (predicates) and the thing defined.
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231:. Finally, by the late 1970s, Miller gathered a collection of his essays, which were published just before his death under the title
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During his early years at
Williams, Miller and Katherine raised their two sons, Eugene (born 1925) and Paul (born 1928).
19:(1895â1978) was an American philosopher in the idealist tradition. His work appears in six published volumes, including
219:
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years. In 1961 Miller published "The
Ahistoric and the Historic" as an Afterword to a volume of translated essays by
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that provides a deep context in which we can grasp what Miller writes regarding definition, action, and symbol.
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At
Williams, Miller taught courses across the whole philosophical curriculumâi.e., epistemology, metaphysics,
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286:. Here the possibility of âstatic definitionâ was attackedâi.e., a definition that has no connection to
116:. During this time he married Katherine S. Gisel (1897â1993). In the fall of 1924 he took a position at
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580:
Colapietro, Vincent. "Reason, Conflict, and
Violence: John William Miller's Conception of Philosophy."
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and also one of his most difficult to understand. First it needs to be stated that the midworld of
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Tyman, Stephen. "The Concept of the Act in the Naturalistic Idealism of John William Miller."
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in the Kantian sense of that termâi.e., to be aware of the conditions of one's endeavors.
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Diefenbeck, James A. "Acts and Necessity in the Philosophy of John William Miller." In
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The Fateful Shapes of Human Freedom: John William Miller and the Crises of Modernity
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The John William Miller Fellowship Fund maintains a Web site dedicated to Miller.
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and what Miller called ââfunctioning objectsââ, is part of his answer to the
605:, 43â58, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
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Corrington, Robert. "John William Miller and the Ontology of the Midworld."
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was further separating philosophical reflection from historical thinking.
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Apart from two summer sessions and a one-year visiting appointment at the
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proper but rather the totality of all functioning objects (understanding
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28:
471:"Afterword: The Ahistoric and the Historic." In José Ortega y Gasset's
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27:(2006). His principal philosophical ambitions were 1) to reconcile the
402:, in order for that to be so we need to support something not unlike
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Stahl, Gary A. "John William Miller and the Midworld of Action." In
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History as a System and Other Essays: Toward a Philosophy of History
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The Task of Criticism: Essays on Philosophy, History, and Community
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History as a System and Other Essays Toward a Philosophy of History
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Miller's teaching career began in 1922 with an appointment at
475:, 237â269. Trans. Helene Weyl. New York: W. W. Norton, 1961.
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wherein Miller was grouped with educators of renown such as
640:. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
577:, 155â164, ed. Joseph Epstein. New York: Basic Books, 1981.
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Descrying the Ideal: The Philosophy of John William Miller
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The Philosophy of History with Reflections and Aphorisms
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Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 22 (1986)
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The Definition of the Thing with Some Notes on Language
272:
The Definition of the Thing With Some Notes on Language
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in the Berkshire Mountains of northwest Massachusetts.
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at Williams College Archives & Special Collections
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Miller embraced history in all his works but it is in
633:, 69â84. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
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While retirement did eventuate in the publication of
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Human Transactions: The Emergence of Meaning in Time
192:
In the 1930s he published two important articles in
60:
John William Miller was born on January 8, 1895, in
626:. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
591:. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2003.
624:The Active Life: Millerâs Metaphysics of Democracy
619:. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
461:Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
73:ambulance corps in France with Base Hospital 44.
218:Upon his retirement in 1960, Miller remained in
532:The Midworld of Symbols and Functioning Objects
328:The Midworld of Symbols and Functioning Objects
248:The Midworld of Symbols and Functioning Objects
582:Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society
494:Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society
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573:Brockway, George. "John William Miller." In
546:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2005.
540:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1983.
534:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1982.
528:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1981.
522:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1980.
516:. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1978.
64:. He began his undergraduate education at
608:Fell, Joseph P. "An American Original."
455:(Williamstown, MA) 1 (Spring 1948): 3â5.
270:In his dissertation and subsequent book
256:philosophy as the activity of criticism
200:American Political Science Association
617:The Philosophy of John William Miller
603:The Philosophy of John William Miller
514:The Paradox of Cause and Other Essays
282:via an examination of the process of
233:The Paradox of Cause and Other Essays
7:
575:Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers
179:Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers
14:
645:Journal of Speculative Philosophy
487:Journal of Speculative Philosophy
238:The philosophy that one finds in
704:University of Minnesota faculty
689:American political philosophers
538:In Defense of the Psychological
499:"On Choosing Right and Wrong."
458:Review of Walter A. Kaufmann's
252:In Defense of the Psychological
51:Portrait of John William Miller
714:University of Rochester alumni
451:"Motives for Existentialism."
1:
562:List of American philosophers
274:(1980), Miller tied together
242:and such posthumous works as
102:Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
84:as well as idealists such as
23:(1978) and most recently The
478:"History and Case History."
307:was one of Millerâs central
68:in 1912, transferred to the
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663:John William Miller papers
709:Harvard University alumni
446:The Journal of Philosophy
444:"Accidents will Happen."
439:The Journal of Philosophy
388:(a term he borrowed from
364:The Philosophy of History
244:The Philosophy of History
195:The Journal of Philosophy
177:, and later reprinted in
56:Early years and education
699:Williams College faculty
612:53 (1983â1984): 123â130.
437:"The Paradox of Cause."
386:metaphysics of democracy
330:, the midworld is not a
326:As Miller made clear in
130:University of Minnesota
70:University of Rochester
466:Williams Alumni Review
171:Phi Beta Kappa Society
124:Williams College years
98:Johann Gottlieb Fichte
86:William Ernest Hocking
52:
694:American semioticians
615:Fell, Joseph P., ed.
587:Colapietro, Vincent.
400:The Task of Criticism
317:problem of universals
266:Definition and action
90:Clarence Irving Lewis
50:
622:McGandy, Michael J.
610:The American Scholar
480:The American Scholar
421:The Paradox of Cause
240:The Paradox of Cause
225:José Ortega y Gasset
187:Morris Raphael Cohen
175:The American Scholar
164:Influence on writing
21:The Paradox of Cause
647:10 (1996): 161â171.
584:25 (1989): 175â190.
557:American philosophy
496:24 (1988): 399â407.
482:49 (1980): 241â243.
468:43 (1951): 149â150.
448:34 (1937): 121â131.
441:32 (1935): 169â175.
379:Ethics and politics
321:functioning objects
135:James Bissett Pratt
114:Connecticut College
109:doctorate in 1922.
106:Ralph Waldo Emerson
62:Rochester, New York
17:John William Miller
501:Idealistic Studies
489:1 (1987): 260â269.
372:contemplative life
82:Edwin Bissell Holt
78:Ralph Barton Perry
66:Harvard University
53:
503:21 (1992): 74â78.
393:Democratic Vistas
25:Task of Criticism
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636:Tyman, Stephen.
485:"For Idealism."
118:Williams College
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492:"The Owl."
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598:: 165â188.
284:definition
214:Philosophy
154:positivism
150:aesthetics
37:pragmatism
551:See also
305:midworld
299:Midworld
280:ontology
246:(1981),
144:Pedagogy
35:and the
29:idealism
453:Comment
353:history
347:History
340:between
313:symbols
432:Essays
336:object
288:action
100:, and
508:Books
368:Plato
332:world
309:ideas
303:The
278:and
185:and
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