Abstract:

My dissertation offers a new interpretation of the ideal of democratic individuality. I examine the works of two great nineteenth-century individualists---Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Stuart Mill---and argue that these writings help illuminate the political demands and ethical opportunities democracy creates for its citizens. Both men saw, in the advent of democracy, almost unbounded potential for individual autonomy and self-creation. At the same time, both worried that modern mass democracy would yield a culture of conformity and expose individuals to new forms of domination, political and intellectual. Such concerns, with their emphasis on the docility of modern citizens, have not recently been focal points for mainstream political theory. I argue that they should be, and I turn not only to Mill and Emerson, but also to contemporary philosophers such as Sheldon Wolin and George Kateb for help in revitalizing this important dimension of modern political thought.

The dissertation has both interpretive and constructive goals. In its interpretive aspect, it develops new readings of Emerson and Mill that highlight the relationship between their ideal of democracy on the one hand, and their opposing concepts of conformity and individuality on the other. In its positive aspects, it advances three principal arguments. The first two involve the relationship between democracy and individuality: I argue that Mill and Emerson both show that the successful practice of democracy requires individuality, and at the same time that democratic institutions and culture help make it possible. The third involves the nature of individuality itself: I maintain that their idea of individuality, in its general outlines, offers a persuasive and psychologically rich conception of personal autonomy. I suggest, furthermore, that this conception constitutes an attractive ethical ideal.

After an introductory chapter, part one of the dissertation (chapters 2 and 3) is devoted to Emerson, while part two (chapters three through five) focus on Mill. Both parts begin with the theme of conformity, develop the contrasting concept of individuality, and the build towards discussions of citizenship and authority in the democratic polity.