Samuel Smiles and the Origins of “Self-Help”: Reform and the New Enlightenment
[J.S.] Mill played two philosophic roles. Sometimes he preferred the role of Coleridgian philosopher who was broadly concerned with human culture and, within the context it provided, with “moral regeneration” as the most appropriate means for the improvement of mankind. On other occasions he gave greater prominence to a more narrowly conceived philosophic role; then he emphasized change in political institutions, instead of moral regeneration, as the means of improving mankind.* Samuel Smiles' popular book Self-Help (1859) is usually cited as a convenient example of mid-Victorian individualism and middle class values. Yet the source and meaning of the self-help ideal is not to be found in the 1850's. Instead, the historian must first turn to eighteenth century values. The article will therefore trace the intellectual origins of Smiles' ideal of self-help, and show that it was strongly influenced by Enlightenment concepts. Secondly, and a central theme of the article, it will be argued that Smiles' ideal of self-help in fact consisted of two avenues to reform-one active and one passive-and that these avenues to reform can only be understood in the context of the intellectual origins of the self-help ideal. Thirdly, the paper will analyse the continuing relationship between the active and passive components of Smiles' avenues to reform, and will contend that between the 1830's and the publication of Self-Help , Smiles' ideal of self-help as two modes of reform remained consistent. In order to support these claims the article will trace the development of Smiles' thought, concentrating firstly on Smiles' earliest book, Physical Education (1838), then on his time as editor of the reforming Leeds Times (1839-1845), and finally on his place in the health and education reform movements of the late 1840's and early 1850's leading into the writing of Self-Help (1859).