JOHN STUART MILL

1. JOHN STUART MILL Who is he? What did he do four their country? Did he do a big impact in history? By: Keanu Tacluyan G Block

2. About John Stuart Mill • He is the son of James Mill, an economist, philosopher and a senior official in the East India Company. John Stuart Mill was born in London during 1806. In 1873 he wrote a book about the autobiography about the moving account of his life as well as his extraordinary education. He’s career was the leader of an administration in East India Company, which he retired when the company’s functions in India was taken over by British Government, following the Mutiny of 1857. Also he was a Liveral MP in Westminster on 1865-8 and in young age he edited the London and Westminster review during the 1830s.

3. John Stuart Mill’s life • Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place gave his father John’s father advice and assistance for John’s education. At the age of three he leaned Greek and by the age of twelve he learned Latin. Having grown up a utilitarian, he turned to Coleridge, Wordsworth and Goethe to cultivate his aesthetic sensibilities. In1830 to his death, he tried to persuade the British public of the necessity of a scientific approach to understand social, political and economic change while not neglecting the insights of poets and other imaginative writers.

4. Who is John Stuart Mill? • He is a British Philosopher, civic servant, Member of Parliament, and political economist. He was an exponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory that has been developed by Jeremy Bentham, even though his conception of it was different from Bentham’s.

5. John Stuart Mill’s work • Theory of liberty • Mill's view on social liberty and tyranny of majority (from On Liberty) • Non-Secular Governance and Atheism • Religious view • Human rights and slavery • Utilitarianism • Economic philosophy

6. Theory of liberty • Mill's Liberty addressed the nature and limitspower that can be legitimately exercised by the society over individual. One argument Mill developed further than any philosopher is the harm principle.Harm principle held that each individual has rights to act as he wants,as longas these actions do not harm others. If the action is self-regarding and if it only affects the person undertaking the action, then society does not have the right to intervene, even if it feels the actor is harming himself. Mill excused those who are "incapable of self-government" from this principle, such as young children or those living in "backward states of society”

7. Mill's view on social liberty and tyranny of majority (from On Liberty) • Mill believed that “the struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history.” For him, liberty in antiquity was a “contest... between subjects, or some classes of subjects, and the government".Mill defined "social liberty" as protection from "the tyranny of political rulers." He introduced numbers of different tyrannies, including social tyranny, as well as the tyranny of the majority.

8. Non-Secular Governance and Atheism • Mill states on many occasions that idea of religion involving doctrine repulses him as it imposes an unchallengeable opinion from an infallible authority such as God. • He says: "I choose, by preference the cases which are least favourable to me - In which the argument against freedom of opinion, both on truth and that of utility, is considered the strongest. Let the opinions impugned be the belief of God and in a future state, or any of the commonly received doctrines of morality... But I must be permitted to observe that it is not the feeling sure of a doctrine (be it what it may) which I call an assumption of infallibility. It is the undertaking to decide that question for others, without allowing them to hear what can be said on the contrary side. And I denounce and reprobate this pretension not the less if I put forth on the side of my most solemn convictions.”

9. Religious view • John Stuart Mill’s religious view, influenced by John Locke, is that man is free to do anything unless he harms others. Government should interfere when it is for the protection of society. Mill explained, • “The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That 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. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right”

10. Human rights and slavery • In 1850, Mill sent a letter (which came to be known under the title "The Negro Question") in rebuttal to Thomas Carlyle's anonymous letter to Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country. Carlyle defended slavery on grounds of genetic inferiority and claimed that West Indies development was due to British ingenuity. Mill's rebuttal and reference to the debate in the U.S. at the time regarding slavery were emphatic and eloquent.

11. Utilitarianism • The canonical statement of Mill's utilitarianism can be found in Utilitarianism. This philosophy has a tradition, although Mill's account is mostly influenced by Jeremy Bentham and John’s father James Mill. His conception of utilitarianism is very different from Bentham's, but some modern thinkers have argued that he demonstrated libertarian idealsand that he was not as much a consequentialist as Bentham, although he did not reject consequentialism like Kant did.

12. Economic philosophy • Mill's early economic philosophy was one of free markets. 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. Mill believed that "equality of taxation" means "equality of sacrifice" and that progressive taxation penalized those who worked harder and saved more"a mild form of robbery"

13. Bibliography • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Non-Secular_Governance_and_Atheism • http://www.utilitarianism.com/jsmill.htm