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Stephen Tyman introduces the thought of the late philosopher John William Miller and the unique conception of idealism he contributed to the philosophical tradition. A longtime Mark Hopkins Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Williams College featured prominently in Joseph Epstein's Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers, John William Miller is now represented by five volumes, only one of which was published during his lifetime. The four posthumous volumes have been compiled by George Brockway, who has skillfully edited certain of Miller's archival writings into thematically structured works. Beyond that, the Miller Archive, housed in the library of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, is a massive collection of papers written for widely various occasions, often in the form of personal letters, and composed over the course of six decades. The collection includes many fragments and much occasional material, all of which point to a consistent and profound philosophy. Tyman has based his study both on the published writings and on his own research in the Miller Archive. He places Miller firmly in the German idealist tradition of Kant and Hegel, while showing that Miller's "historical idealism" furnishes a strikingly novel version of this philosophy. Tyman begins with Miller's most original concept, that of the "midworld," which orients the entirety of Miller's thinking and represents what may be the only successful resolution of the famous problem of "dualism" that has vexed modern philosophy since Descartes in the seventeenth century. Tyman offers a careful comparison of Miller's ethics with that of Kant, which leads naturally into a similar treatment of Miller's extensive reflections on the "philosophy of history." Throughout his discussion, Tyman emphasizes the aptness of Miller's conception of idealism in relation to contemporary discussion on a wide range of problems. He concentrates on the historical background of the conceptual enigmas that still dominate the contemporary situation. Tyman has organized the book into chapters that cover the areas Miller himself had marked off as central, showing how and why this centrality is conceived and how it constitutes a revision of long-standing cognitive attitudes that have led to an impasse between idealism and its opponents, to the detriment of each. In particular, conceptions of causality, of morality and free will, of metaphysics and epistemology are subjected to critical review, as a wholly new vantage point concerning the nature of the philosophical enterprise arises.

Philosophy & Religion --- Philosophy --- Miller, John William.

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A collection of almost 500 letters between John Miller and Sally Campbell Preston McDowell. McDowell and Miller literally fell in love by mail, but one major obstacle blocked their marriage: Sally McDowell was a divorced woman, whilst John Miller was a Presbyterian minister.

Presbyterian Church --- Christian sects --- Clergy --- McDowell, Sally Campbell Preston, --- Miller, John, --- Miller, Sally, --- ro: ed. by

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This book offers a lived defense of liberal education. How does a college professor, on a daily basis, help students feel the value of liberal education and get the most from that education? We answer this question, as professors, each day in the classroom. John William Miller, a philosophy professor at Williams College from 1924-1960 and someone noted for his exceptional teaching, developed one form that this lived defense can take. Though Miller published very little while he was alive, the archives at Williams College hold unpublished notes and essays of this master teacher. In this book, Jeff Frank offers an extended commentary on one of these unpublished essays where Miller develops his thinking on liberal education. Frank develops the idea that presence is central to liberal education and offers suggestions for how professors can become an educative presence for students. The goal of this book is an invitation to other professors who value liberal education to think with Miller about how to develop their own lived defense of liberal education, each day, in their own classrooms. The tone of the book is meant to be invitational, at times even conversational, and the book concludes with some direct suggestions for how professors can live their own defense of liberal education.

Education --- Social aspects. --- Student --- teaching --- liberal education --- Education, Humanistic. --- Teaching --- Philosophy. --- Miller, John William. --- Education, Liberal --- Humanistic education --- Liberal arts education --- Liberal education --- Classical education