...Stuart Mill, who, at the age of nineteen, in 1826, feared the existential vacuum that overwhelmed him: I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody...pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent ... In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself: "Suppose that all...

...existence. But the time came when I awakened from this as from a dream. It was in the summer of 1826. I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody...are, when smitten by their first "conviction of sin." Mill was keenly aware that his experience, although on his view wholly secular, conformed rather closely...

...in his description of his condition in 1826 as akin to the "conviction of sin" preceding conversion: "I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody...pleasurable excitement; one of those moods when what is pleasant at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent; the state, I should think, in which converts...

...John Stuart Mill's explanation that late in 1826 he found himself "in a dull state of nerves. . . . the state, I should think, in which converts to Methodism...when smitten by their first 'conviction of sin.'" His depressed condition was precipitated by his realization that the utilitarian goal of his life's...

...of crisis. This came in the autumn of 1826, when Mill, at age twenty, in "a dull state of nerves... one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, becomes insipid or indifferent," awoke from the dream that dedication to the Benthamite goal of the greatest happiness for the greatest...

...existence. But the time came when I awakened from this as from a dream. It was in the summer of 1826. I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody...are, when smitten by their first "conviction of sin." (137) Mill was keenly aware that his experience, although on his view wholly secular, conformed rather...

...animated existence. But the time came when I wakened from this as from a dream. It was the autumn of 1826. I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to. ... In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, "Suppose that all...

..."irremediable wretchedness" before gradually subsiding. The occasion for the self-questioning is noteworthy: "I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody...are, when smitten by their first 'conviction of sin.' " It seems that when he posed his fateful question, Mill was already in a mild depression characterized...

...he fell into a depression. It was the autumn of 1826. "I was in a dull state of nerves," he wrote, "such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptible...pleasure at other times becomes insipid or indifferent." While in this frame of mind he asked himself: "Suppose that all your objects in life were realized:...

...existence. But the time came when I awakened from this as from a dream. It was in the autumn of 1826. I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to 5 unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement 5 one of those moods when what is pleasure at...