John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (
May 20,
1806 –
May 8,
1873), an
English philosopher and
political economist, was an influential
liberal thinker of the
19th century. He was an advocate of
utilitarianism, the ethical theory that was systemized by his godfather
Jeremy Bentham.
John Stuart Mill was born in
Pentonville,
London, the oldest son of the
Scottish philosopher and historian
James Mill. John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of
Jeremy Bentham and
Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of
Bentham and an adherent of
associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of
utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham were dead.
His feats as a child were exceptional; at the age of three he was taught the
Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight he had read
Aesop's Fables,
Xenophon's
Anabasis, and the whole of
Herodotus, and was acquainted with
Lucian,
Diogenes Laërtius,
Isocrates and six dialogues of
Plato (see his Autobiography). He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught
arithmetic.
A contemporary record of Mill's studies from eight to thirteen is published in
Bain's sketch of his life. It suggests that his autobiography rather understates the amount of work done. At the age of eight he began learning
Latin,
Euclid, and
algebra, and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading was still history, but he went through all the Latin and
Greek authors commonly read in the schools and universities at the time. He was not taught to compose either in Latin or in Greek, and he was never an exact scholar; it was for the subject matter that he was required to read, and by the age of ten he could read
Plato and
Demosthenes with ease. His father's
History of India was published in 1818; immediately thereafter, about the age of twelve, John began a thorough study of the
scholastic logic, at the same time reading
Aristotle's logical treatises in the original language. In the following year he was introduced to
political economy and studied
Adam Smith and
David Ricardo with his father--ultimately completing their
classical economic view of
factors of production.
This intensive study however had injurious effects on Mill's mental health, and state of mind. At the age of 21 he suffered a
nervous breakdown; as explained in chapter V of his
Autobiography, this was caused by the great physical and mental arduousness of his studies which had suppressed any
feelings he might have developed normally in childhood. Nevertheless, this depression eventually began to dissipate, as he began to find solace in the poetry of
William Wordsworth. His capacity for emotion resurfaced, Mill remarking that the "cloud gradually drew off".
Mill may have been offered a place to study at
Cambridge University, but was unable to attend as he was an agnostic. Instead he followed his father to work for the
British East India Company, and after the company was dissolved he was elected for a brief period as an independent
Member of Parliament, representing the City and Westminster constituency from 1865 to 1868. During his time as an MP, Mill advocated easing the burdens on
Ireland, and became the first person in parliament to call for women to be given the right to vote. In
Considerations on Representative Government, Mill called for various reforms of Parliament and voting, especially
proportional representation, the
Single Transferable Vote, and the extension of
suffrage. He was godfather to
Bertrand Russell.
 |
Harriet Taylor |
In 1851, Mill married
Harriet Taylor after 21 years of an at times intense friendship and love affair. Taylor was a significant influence on Mill's work and ideas during both friendship and marriage. His relationship with Harriet Taylor reinforced Mill's advocacy of
women's rights. He cites her influence in his final revision of
On Liberty, which was published shortly after her death, and appears to be obliquely cited in the text of
The Subjection of Women.
He died in
Avignon,
France in
1873, and is buried alongside his wife.
One foundational book on the concept of liberty was
On Liberty, about the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual. One argument that Mill developed further than any previous philosopher was the
harm principle, that is, people should be free to engage in whatever behavior they wish as long as it does not harm others, acting in order to prevent the individual from harming himself is not legitimate, however from this Mill excludes those "incapable of self-government" such as young children or 'barbarians'.
The liberty John Stuart Mill speaks of in
On Liberty is
negative liberty, defined by
Isaiah Berlin as an absence or lack of impediments, obstacles or coercion. This is in contrast with his other idea of
positive liberty, a capacity for behavior, and the presence of conditions for freedom, be they material resources, a level of enlightenment, or the opportunity for political participation.
Thus Mill argued that it is Government's role only to remove the barriers, such as laws, to behaviors that do not harm others. Crucially, he felt that offense did not constitute harm, and therefore supported almost total freedom of speech; only in cases where free speech would lead to direct harm did Mill wish to limit it. For example, whipping up an angry mob to go and attack people would
not be defended in Mill's system. Mill argued that free discourse was vital to ensure progress. He argued that we could never be sure if a silenced opinion did not hold some portion of the truth. Ingeniously he also argued that even false opinions have worth, in that in refuting false opinions the holders of true opinions have their beliefs reaffirmed. Without having to defend one's beliefs, Mill argued, the beliefs would become dead and we would forget why we held them at all. Mill argued that opposing arguments and opinions should be encouraged. The more a position is accepted the more it is important to have an advocate making the best contrary argument against it, and if one did not exist it should even be invented.
Though Mill's statement of the harm principle in Chapter 1 of
On Liberty, i.e., "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant," might seem particularly determinate, Mill notes a number of exceptions that connect his work in
On Liberty with his mature
philosophy of Utilitarianism. Mill notes that the state can and ought to prevent people from selling themselves into slavery. Furthermore, he insists that it would be acceptable to require people to pay taxes for the maintenance of public goods. He also seems to explicitly support "Good Samaritain" laws, which insist that important benefits to others are legally required. Though these exceptions appear to be patently incompatible with his harm principle, Mill notes that the principles of
On Liberty are explicitly defended by the principle of Utility. Thus, when the principle of Utility is applied to the categorical statement of the harm principle, yield certain important exceptions.
The canonical statement of Mill's Utilitarianism is to be found in
Utilitarianism. This philosophy had a long tradition, arguably stretching (in some form or other) back to Aristotle, although Mill's account was primarily influenced by
Jeremy Bentham, and Mill's father
James Mill. Utilitarianism holds that actions are good in proportion to the amount of happiness produced and number of people happiness is produced in. Mill's main contribution to Utilitarianism is the argument for a qualitative separation of pleasures. Bentham had treated all forms of happiness as equal, whereas Mill argued that intellectual and moral pleasures and developments were superior to more physical forms of pleasure. Mill separated "happiness" and "contentment", and claimed that the former was more clearly constituted by the higher modes of existence, as illustrated by his claim that it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
The qualitative account of happiness Mill advocates thus sheds light on his account presented in
On Liberty. As Mill suggests in that text, utility is to be conceived in relation to mankind "as a progressive being," which include the development and exercise of our rational capacities in the living of a higher "mode of existence". Thus the rejection of censorship and paternalist, offense, and moralist legislation is intended to provide the necessary social conditions of the achievement of knowledge and the greatest ability for the greatest number to develop and exercise their deliberative and rational capacities - most clearly stated in Chapter Three of
On Liberty. The exceptions, however, also follow from his Utilitarianism, including most notably the rejection of selling one's self into slavery - for this is a clear case in which the state can successfully intervene in requiring particular citizens to live according to their higher capacities.
Mill's main economic philosophy was one of
laissez faire, but he accepted interventions in the economy, such as a tax on alcohol, if there were sufficient utilitarian grounds. He also accepted the principle of legislative intervention for the purpose of animal welfare. [
1]
Mill's
magnum opus was his
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, which went through several revisions and editions.
William Whewell's
History of the Inductive Sciences (
1837) was a chief influence. The reputation of this work is largely due to his analysis of inductive proof, in contrast to Aristotle's syllogisms, which are deductive. Mill describes the five basic principles of induction which have come to be known as
Mill's Methods - the method of agreement, the method of difference, the joint or double method of agreement and difference, the method of residues, and that of concomitant variations. The common feature of these methods, the one real method of scientific inquiry, is that of elimination. All the other methods are thus subordinate to the method of difference. It was also Mill's attempt to postulate a
theory of knowledge, in the same vein as
John Locke.
Mill is also famous for being one of the earliest and strongest male supporters of women's liberation. His book
The Subjection of Women is one of the earliest written on this subject by a male author. He felt that the oppression of women was one of the few remaining relics from ancient times, one which impeded the progress of humanity. This was an issue he actively supported throughout his life, writing many newspaper articles and delivering many speeches on it.
He was also the first to use the term
dystopia.
[John Stuart Mill uses the term dystopia in a parliamentary speech, possibly the first recorded use of the term. Exploring Dystopia, last accessed on 19th March 2006, see also [2]]Major works are in bold type.
*(
1843)
A System of Logic*(
1844)
Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy*(
1848)
Principles of Political Economy*(
1859)
On Liberty*(
1861)
Considerations on Representative Government*(
1863)
Utilitarianism *(
1865)
Examinations of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy*(
1865)
Auguste Comte and Positivism*(
1867)
Inaugural Address at St. Andrews - Rectorial Inaugural Address at the
University of St. Andrews, concerning the value of culture.
*(
1869)
The Subjection of Women*(
1873)
Autobiography*(
1874)
Three Essays on Religion*
Liberalism*
Utilitarianism*
Contributions to liberal theory:Inline:
:General:
*David O. Brink, "Mill's Deliberative Utilitarianism," in
Philosophy and Public Affairs 21 (1992), 67-103.
*Sterling Harwood, "Eleven Objections to Utilitarianism," in Louis P. Pojman, ed., Moral Philosophy: A Reader (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 1998), and in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), Chapter 7, and in [
3]www.sterlingharwood.com.
*Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003).
Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.
*
Samuel Hollander - The Economics of John Stuart Mill (University of Toronto Press, 1985)
*Mill, John Stuart,
A System of Logic, University Press of the Pacific, Honolulu, 2002, ISBN 1-4102-0252-6
*
John Stuart Mill in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy*
John Stuart Mill in the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy*
MetaLibri Digital Library: John Stuart Mill's folder.
*
Free ebook of John Stuart Mill at
Project Gutenberg*
John Stuart Mill. Extensive collection of links to writings by and about J.S. Mill.
*
Biography, works and quotes of John Stuart Mill*
More easily readable versions of On Liberty and Utilitarianism*
Autobiography of John Stuart Mill*
How far did JS Mill let liberalism down? Did he prefer Socialism to Liberalism? by David McDonagh
*
Mill-fest: The Bicentennial Edition'' by the blog Catallarchy
