The Philosophy Book

191

See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ Jeremy Bentham 174 ■
Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■ Karl Popper 262–65 ■ John Rawls 294–95

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill was born in

London in 1806. His father

was the Scottish philosopher

and historian James Mill, who

founded the movement of

“philosophical radicals” with

Jeremy Bentham. John was

educated at home by his

father, whose demanding

program began with teaching

Greek to John when he was

only three years old.

After years of intense study,

Mill suffered a breakdown

at the age of 20. He left

university to work for the East

India Company, where he

stayed until his retirement in

1857, as it gave him a living

and time to write. During this

period he met Harriet Taylor,

advocate of women’s rights,

who—after a relationship of 20

years—eventually became his

wife. Mill served as a Member

of Parliament from 1865 to

1868, putting into practice his

moral and political philosophy.

Key works

1843 System of Logic

1848 Principles of Political

Economy

1859 On Liberty

1861 Utilitarianism

1869 The Subjection of Women

1874 On Nature

shaped the 18th-century revolutions
of both Europe and America. Its
originator, Jeremy Bentham, was
a friend of the Mill family, and he
influenced John’s home education.

Victorian liberalism
As a philosopher Mill sets himself
the task of synthesizing a valuable
intellectual heritage with the new
19th-century Romanticism. His
approach is less sceptical than
that of Hume (who argued that all
knowledge comes from sense

experience, and nothing is certain)

and less dogmatic than Bentham

(who insisted that everything be

judged on its usefulness), but their

empiricism and utilitarianism

informed his thinking. Mill’s moral

and political philosophy is less

extreme than his predecessors’,

aiming for reform rather than

revolution, and it formed the basis

of British Victorian liberalism.

After completing his first

philosophical work, the exhaustive

six-volume System of Logic, Mill ❯❯

THE AGE OF REVOLUTION

Over his own

body and mind,

the individual

is sovereign.

Decisions should be

made on the principle

of thegreatest good for

the greatest number.

Individuals should be

free to do whatever gives

them pleasure, even if

it could harm them...

...but they are

not entitled to do

things that could

harm others.

Individuals can choose

to do things that affect

their own body, but not

that of someone else.