Since George P. Brockway’s 1980 essay in The American Scholar, a growing number of scholars have devoted attention to the philosophy of John William Miller. As the bibliography below indicates, these works include not only journal articles on specific topics but also chapters and whole books. (A number of these works either won the John William Miller Essay Prize or were supported by a fellowship from the John William Miller Fellowship Fund.) Each is an important contribution to the ongoing task of understanding and developing Miller’s thought. This bibliography is a comprehensive and up-to-date listing of all publications, presented papers, dissertations, and book reviews that address Miller’s philosophy.
In addition to the books, essays, and presentations listed below, four book projects (note that all titles are provisional) are currently in development:
- Actual Finitude: The Midworld of John William Miller by Peter S. Fosl
- Stewardship as an Aim of the Liberal Arts: On John William Miller’s Continuing Significance by Jeff Frank
- Emotions and the Moral Life by Gary Steiner
- The Reinvention of Idealism in American Philosophy: John William Miller and the Idealist Case for History, Technology, and Objectified Agency by Katie Terezakis
Visitors are encouraged to note any work on Miller or making reference to Miller that is not currently on this list. (Please contact The John William Miller Fund.) Works citing Miller’s work are available at Citations.
The full text of selected articles can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlinked title of the particular essay. Links on book titles lead to the best bookseller site.
Essays, Chapters, & Books
Anderson, Douglas R. “Humanities Education: Can We Teach Without Apologizing?” The Journal of General Education 51 (2) (2002): 127–143.
———. “In the Face of Technology: Toward a Recovery of the Human.” Technology in Society 20 (1998): 297–306.
———. “Some Addenda to Colapietro’s Fateful Shapes.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 40(2) (2004): 197–204.
Bradford, Judith. “Telling the Difference: Feminist Philosophy and Miller’s Actualist Semiotics.” Journal of Speculative Philosophy 11 (1997): 297–314.
Brockway, George P. ” John William Miller.” The American Scholar 49 (1980): 236–240.
———. ” John William Miller.” In Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers, 155–164, ed. Joseph Epstein. New York: Basic Books, 1981.
———. “Miller on Economics.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 125–135, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Colapietro, Vincent. “Reason, Conflict, and Violence: John William Miller’s Conception of Philosophy.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 25 (1989): 175–190.
———. “Human Symbols as Functioning Objects: A First Look At John William Miller’s Semiotics.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 70–84, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
———. “Purpose, Power, and Agency.” Monist 75 (4) (1992).
———. The Fateful Shapes of Human Freedom: John William Miller and the Crises of Modernity . Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2003.
———. “Confronting the Actuality of History: Re-Interpreting Miller in Light of Douglas Anderson, John E. Smith, and Cushing Strout.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 40(2) (2004): 213–228.
———. “The Reclamation of History: Does John William Miller’s Philosophical Project Preclude a ‘Radical’ Will?” In Commonplace Commitments: Thinking through the Legacy of Joseph P. Fell, 133-152, eds. Peter S. Fosl, Michael J. McGandy, and Mark D. Moorman. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2016.
Corrington, Robert. ” John William Miller and the Ontology of the Midworld .” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 22 (1986): 165–188.
———. “Introduction to ‘For Idealism’ .” Journal of Speculative Philosophy 1 (1987): 257–259.
———. “Introduction to ‘The Owl’ .” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 24 (1988): 395–398.
———. “Finite Idealism: The Midworld and its History.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 85–95, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Diefenbeck, James A. “Acts and Necessity in the Philosophy of John William Miller.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 43–58, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Elias, Robert H. “Literature, History, and What Men Learn.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 136–152, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Eow, Greg. “John William Miller.” In Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, ed. John R. Shook (Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Continuum, 2005).
Fell, Joseph P. “An American Original.” The American Scholar 53 (1983–1984): 123–130.
———. ” Miller: The Man and His Philosophy .” In The Philosophy of John William Miller, 21–31, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
———. “John William Miller and Nietzsche’s Nihilism.” Eidos: The Bucknell Academic Journal 10 (1997): 5–21.
———. “The Philosopher of Elm Street.” Williams Alumni Review January (2008): 9-12.
———. “Some Thoughts on the Modern Mind.” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 26, no. 4 (2012): 589-626.
Fell, Joseph, ed. The Philosophy of John William Miller . Bucknell Review 23(1). Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Fosl, Peter S., Michael J. McGandy, and Mark D. Moorman, eds. Commonplace Commitments: Thinking through the Legacy of Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2016.
Jeff Frank, Being a Presence for Students: Teaching as a Lived Defense of Liberal Education. Amherst, Massachusetts, and Ann Arbor, Michigan: Lever Press, 2019.
———. “Against Technology-mediated Personalized Learning: Resources from John William Miller and Henry Bugbee to Support Parental Resistance” in Ethics and Education, 15, no. 1 (2020): 98-112.
Furtwangler, Albert. ” Stories, Histories, and Cases .” Dalhousie Review 67 (1988): 328–334.
Gahringer, Robert E. ” John William Miller: A Memorial Minute .” The Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 52 (1979): 518–519.
———. “On Interpreting J. W. Miller.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 32–42, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
Johnstone, Henry W. Jr. “The Fatality of Thought.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 59–69, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA, Bucknell University Press, 1990.
McGandy, Michael J. “John William Miller’s Metaphysics of Democracy.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 31 (1995): 598–630.
———. “The Midworld: Clarifications and Developments.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 34 (1998): 225–264.
———. The Active Life: Miller’s Metaphysics of Democracy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005
———. “Introduction: Joseph P. Fell and the Traditions of Phenomenological Existentialism in America.” In Commonplace Commitments: Thinking through the Legacy of Joseph P. Fell, xiii-xxxvi, eds. Peter S. Fosl, Michael J. McGandy, and Mark D. Moorman. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2016.
Moorman, Mark D. “From Place to Midworld: A Key Development in the Philosophy of Joseph P. Fell.” In Commonplace Commitments: Thinking through the Legacy of Joseph P. Fell, 117-132, eds. Peter S. Fosl, Michael J. McGandy, and Mark D. Moorman. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2016.
Smith, John E. “Reflections on Vincent Colapietro’s Fateful Shapes of Human Freedom: John William Miller and the Crises of Modernity .” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 40(2) (2004): 204–208.
Stahl, Gary H. “Making the Moral World.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 111–124, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
———. “John William Miller and the Midworld of Action.” In Human Transactions: The Emergence of Meaning in Time, 69–84. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
Strout, Cushing. “When the Truth is in the Telling.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 153–164, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
———. “The Truth is in the Retelling: ‘A Nice Question’ about Lord Jim.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 40(2) (2004):209–212.
Terezakis, Katie. “Knowledge and Authority in the Metaphysics of John William Miller.” The Pluralist 7 (2012): 55-76.
———. “To Philosophize is to Revise, Or, How German Idealism Became Historical in the Work of One Secluded American Thinker.” Culture and Values 12(4) (2014).
———. “The Integrity of Finitude: Existential Reckoning in the Work of John William Miller.” In Commonplace Commitments: Thinking through the Legacy of Joseph P. Fell, 213-228, eds. Peter S. Fosl, Michael J. McGandy, and Mark D. Moorman. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2016.
———. “A Philosophy of Action with Richard J. Bernstein and John William Miller.” In Richard J. Bernstein and the Expansion of American Philosophy: Thinking the Plural, 179-196, eds. Marcia Morgan and Megan Craig. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016.
Tyman, Stephen. “The Problem of Evil in Proto-Ethical Idealism: John William Miller’s Ethics in Historical Context.” In The Philosophy of John William Miller , 96–110, ed. Joseph P. Fell. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990.
———. Descrying the Ideal: The Philosophy of John William Miller. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
———. “The Concept of the Act in the Naturalistic Idealism of John William Miller.” Journal of Speculative Philosophy 10 (1996): 161–171.
Presented Papers
Anderson, Douglas R. “Miller’s American Scholar: Acting in the Midworld.” Presented to the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Kansas City, MO, May 1994.
———. “Some Addenda to Colapietro’s Fateful Shapes .” Presented at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, September 2003.
Colapietro, Vincent. “Confronting the Actuality of History.” Presented at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, September 2003.
Fell, Joseph P. “John William Miller and Nietzsche’s Nihilism.” Roy Wood Sellars Lecture, presented at Bucknell University, October, 1996.
Johnstone, Henry W. “Some Observations on J. W. Miller.” Presented to the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Kansas City, MO, May 1994.
McGandy, Michael J. “John William Miller, C. I. Lewis, and the Inheritance of the Golden Age.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, New York, NY, March 2012.
———. “Existentialism Comes (Again) to America: From Emerson to Miller, from Sartre to Fell.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, Galloway, NJ, March 2013.
Moorman, Mark D. “Idealist Affinities: John William Miller and Josiah Royce.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, New York, NY, March 2012.
——–. “Royce on Being-with-Others: The Sociality of Self and Nature.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, Galloway Township, NJ, March 2013.
Niemoczynski, Leon. “The Naturalistic Idealism of American Philosopher John William Miller: His Concept of the Midworld Applied to Philosophical Ecology.” Presented at the Fifth International Conference on Ecstatic Naturalism, Drew Theological School, Madison, NJ, April 2015.
Smith, John E. “Reflections on Vincent Colapietro’s Fateful Shapes of Human Freedom: John William Miller and the Crises of Modernity .” Presented at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, September 2003.
Terezakis, Katie. “John William Miller and the Metacritical Initiative.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, New York, NY, March 2012.
———. “Embodiment, Language, and Demonry in Miller’s Actualism.” Presented at the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Rochester, NY, November 2012.
———. “The Philosophy of Action in John William Miller and Richard J. Bernstein.” Presented at Thinking the Plural: Richard J. Bernstein’s Contribution to American Philosophy, Stony Brook University September 2014.
———. “Functioning Objects and Objectified Agency.” Presented at Department of Philosophy Colloquium, Rochester Institute of Technology, February 2016.
———. “Everyone’s an Idealist.” Presented at the Stan McKenzie Salon, Rochester Institute of Technology, October 2016.
———. “The Persistence of Idealism: John William Miller on Tools, Regulative Ideas, and the Constraints of Immanence.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Panel II, Eastern Division American Philosophical Association, January 2017.
Tyman, Stephen. “John William Miller and Henri Bergson on Activity and Consciousness.” Presented at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, New York, NY, March 2012.
———. “John William Miller and the Problem of Freedom.” Presented at the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Rochester, NY, November 2012.
Dissertations
McGandy, Michael J. “John William Miller’s Actualism: A Metaphysics of Democracy.” Ph.D. dissertation. Fordham University, 2000.
Book Reviews
Abelson, Raziel. Review of The Paradox of Cause. New Leader (15 January 1979): 18–19.Aboulafia, Mitchell. Review of The Philosophy of John William Miller, ed. Joseph P. Fell. International Studies in Philosophy 25(3) (1993): 116–117.
Anderson, Douglas R. Review of The Philosophy of John William Miller , ed. Joseph P. Fell. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 27 (1991): 527–533.
Anderson, James F. Review of The Paradox of Cause. The Review of Metaphysics 33 (1979): 189–190.
Bates, Stanley. Review of The Definition of the Thing . Ethics 92 (October 1981): 181–182.
Anonymous. Review of The Paradox of Cause. Kirkus Reviews 46 (1978): 933.
———. Review of The Paradox of Cause. Choice 16 (1979): 544.
———. Review of The Definition of the Thing. Kirkus Reviews 48 (1980): 1141–1142.
———. Review of The Definition of the Thing. Choice 18 (1981): 673.
———. Review of The Philosophy of History. Choice 19 (1981): 516–517.
———. Review of The Philosophy of History. Kirkus Reviews 49 (1981): 856.
———. Review of The Midworld. Chronicle of Higher Education (5 May 1982): 22.
———. Review of In Defense of the Psychological. Choice 21 (1983): 354–355.
———. Review of In Defense of the Psychological. Kirkus Reviews 51 (1983): 358.
Armour, Leslie. Review of The Definition of the Thing. Library Journal 105 (1980): 2330.
———. Review of The Midworld. Library Journal 107 (1982): 892.
Baille, Hal. Review of The Definition of the Thing. Best Sellers 40 (1980): 340.
Brody, Leon H. Review of The Task of Criticism. Library Journal, 131 (1) (2006): 121.
Colapietro, Vincent. Review of Miller’s Five Books . Journal of Speculative Philosophy 1 (1987): 239–256.
———. Review of Stephen Tyman’s Descrying the Ideal: The Philosophy of John William Miller . Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 30 (1994): 1033–1045.
Dray, William H. Review of The Philosophy of History. American Historical Review 87 (June 1982): 745.
Ebling, Claudia. Review of The Task of Criticism and The Active Life. Bucknell World 25 (3) (2007): 18-19.
Friend, Theodore. ” Infinity and Limit: A Teacher’s Eye.” Yale Review 73 (1984): 446–451.
Hiller, Bill. Review of The Definition of the Thing. New Scientist 168 (2265) (2000): 58.
Hunt, Thomas C. Review of The Paradox of Cause. Library Journal 103 (1978): 2244.
Kerlin, Michael J. Review of The Philosophy of History. Thomist 49 (January 1985): 132–134.
Keymer, David K. Review of The Definition of the Thing. Library Journal 106 (1981): 1546.
Kincaid, Shannon. Review of The Task of Criticism and The Active Life. Transactions of Charles S. Peirce Society 42(2) (2006): 289–296.
O’Brien, Robert C. Review of In Defense of the Psychological. Library Journal 108 (1983): 1005.
Radest, Howard B. Review of The Paradox of Cause. Bibliographie de la philosophie 28 (1981): 203.
Rigstad, Mark. Review of The Task of Criticism. Political Studies Review 5 (1) (2007).
Singer, Peter. Review of The Paradox of Cause. The New York Review of Books (22 March 1979): 30–32.
Tyman, Stephen. Review of The Philosophy of History. History and Theory 23 (1984): 132–140.
Citations
For citations to Miller’s work, see the Citations page. This page presents an up-to-date list of publications making bibliographical or textual reference to either his published writings or his unpublished papers. The full text of selected articles in which citations to Miller appear can be accessed via hyperlinks.
