S.T. Coleridge’s Theory of Symbiotic Constitutionalism

Abstract

While many critics have secured Samuel Taylor Coleridge an important place as a poet, environmental thinker, and political theorist, none have thoroughly examined how he unites his conservatism and environmentalism in his final work, On the Constitution of Church and State, to promote a theory of symbiotic constitutionalism. To resist the growing power of commercial-mechanical thought, he proposes a constitutional structure guided by ecological principles of balance, stewardship, organic change, and sustainability. This constitutional structure is comprised of multiple institutions that all work to moderate and synthesize society’s opposing forces into a symbiotic system.