Mill on the RPF

Bio

John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806 - May 8, 1873) an English philosopher and
economist, was one of the most influential liberal thinkers of the 19th
century. He was an advocate of utilitarianism, the ethical theory first
proposed by his godfather Jeremy Bentham.

John Stuart Mill was born in his father's house in Pentonville, London, the
eldest son of James Mill. He 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 boys his own age. 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. He had also
read a great deal of history in English.

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 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 intense childhood education was not without its price. Mill writes that
in 1826 he fell into a “dull state of nerves” where his goals “had ceased to
charm” and he “seemed to have nothing left to live for” (Autobiography,
Chapter V). But the feeling gradually passed, and he once again found
himself able to “find enjoyment, not intense, but sufficient for
cheerfulness, in sunshine and sky, in books, in conversation, in public
affairs; and that there was, once more, excitement, though of a moderate
kind, in exerting myself for my opinions, and for the public good” (ibid).

Mill worked for the British East India Company, but he was also a Liberal
member of Parliament. He advocated easing the burdens on Ireland, and
basically worked for what he considered reason. In "Considerations on
Representative Government" Mill called for various reforms of Parliament
and voting, especially proportional representation and the extension of
suffrage.

In 1851 Mill married Harriet Taylor (Harriet Taylor Mill) after 21 years of
friendship. Taylor was a signficant influence on Mill's work and ideas
during both friendship and marriage. His relationship with Harriet Taylor
inspired Mill's advocacy of women's rights. Harriet died in 1858 on a trip to
Avignon, where she is buried. For the rest of his life, Mill spent half the
year in Avignon, so he could be near her grave. He died in Avignon in
1873, and is buried next to Harriet.

In terms of human rights, Mill is most noted for his works On Liberty
(1859), and Utilitarianism (1861). On Liberty is about the nature and limits
of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the
individual. One argument that Mill formed was the harm principle, that is
people should be free to engage in what ever behaviors they wish as long
as it does not harm others.

John Stuart Mill only speaks of negative freedom in On Liberty, a concept
formed and named by Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997). Isaiah Berlin suggests
that negative freedom is an absence or lack of impediments, obstacles or
coercion. This is in contrast with his other idea of positive freedom, 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 to only remove
the barriers, such as laws, to behaviors that do not harm others.

In Utilitarianism, Mill refines and defends the theory presented by
Bentham. One notable change is that Mill felt that quality of pleasure was
not to be measured just by quantity, but by quality as well. He writes: “It is
quite compatible with the principle of utility to recognise the fact, that
some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than
others. It would be absurd that while, in estimating all other things, quality
is considered as well as quantity, the estimation of pleasures should be
supposed to depend on quantity alone. ...Of two pleasures, if there be one
to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided
preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that
is the more desirable pleasure” (Chapter 2: “What Utilitarianism Is”). Mill
felt it was virtually self evident that the "more desireable" pleasures are
those which involve the “higher faculties” of reason, as opposed to our
“lower” animal faculties.

Mill also argued that while our motivation for choosing utilitarianism as a
way of life was dependent on our notion of virtue--that is, that the
happiness of all was the right and noble thing to achieve--our motivation
for choosing “justice” was not much different. Our yearning for justice is
simply a “feeling...bestowed on us by Nature [which] does not necessarily
legitimate all its promptings. The feeling of justice might be a peculiar
instinct, and might yet require, like our other instincts, to be controlled by a
higher reason” (Chapter 5: “On the Connection between Justice and
Utility”).

Mill also rejects the idea that the standard of justice is easier to determine
and apply than the pleasure-pain standard of utilitarianism: “We are
continually informed that Utility is an uncertain standard, which every
different person interprets differently, and that there is no safety but in the
immutable, ineffaceable, and unmistakable dictates of justice, which carry
their evidence in themselves, and are independent of the fluctuations of
opinion. One would suppose from this that on questions of justice there
could be no controversy, that if we take that for our rule, its application to
any given case could leave us in as little doubt as a mathematical
demonstration. So far is this from being the fact, that there is as much
difference of opinion, and as much discussion, about what is just, as
about what is useful to society” (ibid).

(Excerpts adapted and portrait taken from the Wikipedia article on Mill. Click here for
complete article.)

Works

On Liberty

Utilitarianism