Shelley’s Intellectual Philosophy in “On Life” and “Mont Blanc”

Abstract

This article examines Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On Life” and “Mont Blanc” as complementary expressions of his “Intellectual Philosophy.” “On Life” advances a mind-dependent monism tempered by epistemic humility, collapsing the distinction between idea and object while restricting metaphysical claims. “Mont Blanc” transposes these theses into lyric form, staging flux, passivity, and law-likeness in nature as both challenge and resource for the mind. Read together, the essay and poem reveal Shelley’s consistent refusal of transcendent causes and his investment in phenomenal unity. By situating Shelley alongside Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Spinoza, this study shows how he transforms epistemic skepticism into poetic practice. His achievement lies in what may be called a poetics of skeptical sufficiency: an orientation that affirms the sufficiency of appearances, dramatizes their power, and models a way of inhabiting the world that is both humble before mystery and rich in imaginative meaning.