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Three Essays on Religion

John Stuart Mill · 1874

Mill's three essays on religion, published after his death in 1874. This entry is a LibriVox volunteer audio reading of the text.

These essays are Mill's own reflections on religion, published after his death, and they show a side of his thought that he did not publish in his lifetime.

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John Stuart Mill, Three Essays on Religion, 1874. LibriVox volunteer audio reading.

About this source

What it is

This is Three Essays on Religion, by John Stuart Mill. The three essays are Nature, The Utility of Religion and Theism. The record says the first two date from the 1850s and the third was written between 1868 and 1870. The essays were published in 1874, after Mill's death.

The recording is a LibriVox audio reading by a volunteer, dedicated to the public domain. It is not Mill's own voice. The introductory notice is by Helen Taylor, and the text used here is a scanned edition.

Why it matters

Mill chose not to publish these essays during his life, so they show his thinking on religion in a form he did not release himself. Because they were written over many years, they reveal how his views on religion developed over time.

Look closer

  • Why might a writer keep religious essays unpublished during his lifetime?
  • How does the volunteer recording change the way you hear Mill's arguments?
  • What does the editor's introduction add that Mill himself did not write?

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