13 questions · Philosophy
John Stuart Mill, born in London in 1806, was the product of an unparalleled educational experiment: his father James Mill, a friend of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham, taught him Greek from the age of three; Latin followed at eight, logic and political economy at twelve. The prodigy paid a price: at 20 Mill plunged into a deep depression and discovered what the drill of the intellect had left out: feeling. Wordsworth's poetry helped him out of it; from then on he sought to reconcile utilitarianism with the heart. Utilitarianism (founded by Bentham) measures actions by their consequences: right is what promotes 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Mill refined the doctrine: pleasures differ not only in quantity but in quality: 'Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.' His most famous work, though, is 'On Liberty' (1859): society may interfere with an individual's liberty only to prevent harm to others: the 'harm principle', a cornerstone of liberalism to this day. Freedom of opinion Mill defended radically: even the false opinion is useful, because it forces truth to prove itself. Mill worked for decades at the East India Company and later sat in Parliament, where in 1866 he became the first MP to move for women's suffrage. His book 'The Subjection of Women' (1869) made him a founding thinker of feminism: shaped by his wife Harriet Taylor, whom he praised as the intellectual co-author of his works. Did you know that Mill lost his seat in the Commons partly because he was too unbending to pay election expenses? He died in 1873 in Avignon, where Harriet lay buried; he had bought his house there to be near her grave.
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utilitarianism
Right is what promotes 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number': Mill added the quality of pleasures.
💡 Did you know? Mill refined utilitarianism: the ethics that judges actions by the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
On Liberty
A founding book of liberalism: written jointly with his wife Harriet, as Mill stressed.
💡 Did you know? „On Liberty“ is still a foundational text of liberalism: a defence of individual freedom against the „tyranny of the majority“.
only to prevent harm to others
The 'harm principle': over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
💡 Did you know? His „harm principle“: the state may restrict an individual's freedom only to prevent harm to others: not for their own „good“.
better Socrates dissatisfied
Higher pleasures rank above merely sensual ones: Mill's correction to Bentham's calculus of happiness.
💡 Did you know? „Better a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied pig“, for Mill intellectual pleasures rank above merely sensual ones.
from three
Latin followed at eight, logic and political economy at twelve: an unparalleled drill.
💡 Did you know? At 20 Mill plunged into depression: Wordsworth's poetry helped him out.
women's suffrage
The motion failed: but became a beacon for the suffragette movement.
💡 Did you know? As an MP, Mill in 1866 was the first in the British Parliament to propose votes for women: decades before it was granted.
The Subjection of Women
The legal subordination of women, he wrote, is 'wrong in itself' and a chief hindrance to progress.
💡 Did you know? His essay „The Subjection of Women“ was one of the first great feminist tracts written by a man.
Harriet Taylor
21 years of friendship, seven of marriage: her grave in Avignon determined where he spent his old age.
💡 Did you know? Mill openly praised his wife Harriet Taylor as the intellectual co-author of his works: unusual for his time.
It forces truth to prove itself
Suppressed opinions might be true and even errors keep truth from becoming 'dead dogma'.
💡 Did you know? Even false opinions are useful, said Mill: they force the truth to prove itself anew again and again.
East India Company
Like his father before him: until the company's dissolution in 1858.
💡 Did you know? For over 30 years Mill worked for a living at the East India Company: pursuing philosophy on the side.
Jeremy Bentham
'The greatest happiness of the greatest number': Mill's father James was Bentham's closest ally.
💡 Did you know? The utilitarian founder Jeremy Bentham was a family friend: Mill's father deliberately raised his son as Bentham's intellectual heir.
Avignon
He had bought a house there to be near his wife Harriet's grave: he lies buried beside her.
💡 Did you know? Mill died in 1873 in Avignon, France, where he lived near the grave of his beloved wife Harriet.
Foto: London Stereoscopic Company · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher and economist who refined utilitarianism and became one of the foremost thinkers of individual liberty.
💡 Did you know? He was the very first MP to propose votes for women in the British Parliament, in 1866.
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