“On meurt deux Source fois, je le vois bien : > > Cesser d’aimer & d’être aimable, > > C’est une mort insupportable : > > Cesser de vivre, ce n’est rien.”
These poignant lines come from the pen of Voltaire. John Stuart Mill (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) They translate to, “One dies twice, I see it well: To cease to love and be lovable is an insupportable death; to cease to live is nothing.” Voltaire suggests our emotional and social existence holds more weight than our physical one. While this sentiment speaks to the heart, it also opens a door to a profound intellectual question. What happens when we face the limits of what we can know, not just what we can feel?
This very dilemma consumed another great thinker, John Stuart Mill. In his final years, Mill turned his powerful intellect toward the ultimate questions of existence. He explored these ideas in his work, Three Essays on Religion. This collection offers a fascinating look at a brilliant mind grappling with faith, reason, and the boundaries of human understanding. It reveals a man committed to intellectual honesty above all else.
The Cautious Empiricist Meets the Cosmos
John Stuart Mill built his philosophy on empiricism. He believed that we gain all genuine knowledge from sensory experience. We observe, we test, and we draw conclusions from evidence. This rigorous approach served him well in ethics and politics. However, it created a significant challenge when applied to religion. Questions about God, creation, and an afterlife lie beyond direct observation. Mill could not simply accept dogma. Therefore, he had to ask: What can we reasonably infer about the divine from the world we actually see?
His essays, published posthumously in 1874, tackle this head-on. Source Mill did not seek to destroy religion. Instead, he wanted to determine what aspects of it, if any, could withstand rational scrutiny. He applied his logical toolkit to the cosmos itself. The result is a masterclass in intellectual humility and the careful delineation of knowledge.
Nature’s Imperfect Design
One of the oldest arguments for God is the Argument from Design. It suggests that the complexity and order in the universe imply a creator. Mill took this argument seriously. He saw incredible intricacy in the natural world, from the mechanics of the eye to the orbit of the planets. He conceded that nature shows signs of intelligent design. However, he did not stop there. An honest empiricist must consider all the evidence.
Consequently, Mill also observed nature’s profound cruelty and inefficiency. He pointed to disease, natural disasters, and the brutal reality of predator-prey relationships. A world filled with such suffering could not be the work of an all-powerful and all-good creator. This led him to a nuanced conclusion. If a designer exists, the evidence suggests they are powerful but ultimately limited. The designer may be benevolent, but they are not omnipotent. Here, we see the stark limits of our knowledge. We can infer a possible cause, but the evidence itself restricts the conclusions we can draw about that cause.
The Utility of Hope
After setting a firm boundary on what we can know, Mill turned to what we might hope. He understood the deep human need for meaning and moral guidance. While he rejected the certainty of revealed religion, he did not dismiss the value of religious sentiment entirely. Specifically, he considered the idea of an afterlife. There is no evidence for it, so we cannot claim it as knowledge. Yet, the hope for immortality can be a powerful force for good.
This hope can inspire individuals to live better lives. It provides comfort in the face of suffering and injustice. For Mill, this was the proper place for religion: not as a source of absolute truth, but as a realm of aspiration and imagination. He argued that we could cultivate a “Religion of Humanity,” focusing our reverence on the collective good of mankind. In a way, this brings us back to Voltaire’s lament. Mill suggests that even if we cannot prove life has ultimate meaning, we can create it. We can choose to love and be lovable, to work for a better world. This choice gives life a purpose that even the cold limits of reason cannot take away.
In summary, Mill’s exploration of religion is a testament to his intellectual integrity. He followed the evidence where it led, even when it offered no easy answers. He shows us that accepting the limits of our knowledge is not a defeat. Instead, it is the foundation of a more honest, humane, and ultimately more meaningful existence.