Research: John Stuart Mill and Moral PerfectionismPlacing itself within the developments of modern and contemporary ethics, the aim of this research is firstly to propose a reading of John Stuart Mill's utilitarian and liberal framework through the analysis of perfectionist themes, inherited from the cultural tradition of romanticism. After investigating how the idea of the inner life of the individual, understood as a dimension that requires a process of education and cultivation of oneself, which raises a peculiar moral and political question, the work focuses on the contemporary developments of the Millian perfectionist approach. In particular, the considerations of Stanley Cavell, Cora Diamond, and Martha Nussbaum illustrate the different ways in which the transformative process of the individual can take place within relational dynamics, offering us a key to understand the nature of democratic dialogue in today's societies and the role of literary and cinematographic works in the process of self-improvement.
keywords
Moral philosophy; political philosophy; utilitarianism; perfectionism; modernism; moral imagination; education; democracy