193
through intellectual and cultural
pursuits. In the “happiness
equation” he gives more weight
to higher, intellectual pleasures
than to baser, physical ones.
In line with his empiricist
background, Mill then tries to pin
down the essence of happiness.
What is it, he asks, that each
individual is striving to achieve?
What causes happiness? He
decides that “the sole evidence it is
possible to produce that anything
is desirable, is that people do
actually desire it.” This seems a
rather unsatisfactory explanation,
but he goes on to distinguish
between two different desires:
unmotivated desires (the things we
want that will give us pleasure) and
conscientious actions (the things
we do out a sense of duty or charity,
often against our immediate
inclination, that ultimately bring
us pleasure). In the first case, we
desire something as a part of our
happiness, but in the second we
desire it as a means to our
happiness, which is felt only when
the act reaches its virtuous end.
Practical utilitarianism
Mill was not a purely academic
philosopher, and he believed his
ideas should be put into practice,
so he considered what this might
mean in terms of government and
legislation. He saw any restriction
of the individual’s freedom to pursue
happiness as a tyranny, whether
this was the collective tyranny of
the majority (through democratic
election) or the singular rule of a
despot. He therefore suggested
practical measures to restrict the
power of society over the individual,
and to protect the rights of the
individual to free expression.
In his time as a Member of
Parliament, Mill proposed many
reforms which were not to come
about until much later, but his
speeches brought the liberal
applications of his utilitarian
philosophy to the attention of a
wide public. As a philosopher and
politician, he argued strongly in
defense of free speech, for the
promotion of basic human rights,
and against slavery—all of which
were obvious practical applications
of his utilitarianism. Strongly
influenced by his wife Harriet
Taylor-Mill, he was the first British
parliamentarian to propose votes
for women as part of his government
reforms. His liberalist philosophy
also encompassed economics, and
contrary to his father’s economic
theories, he advocated a free-
market economy where government
intervention is kept to a minimum.A softer revolution
Mill places the individual, rather than
society, at the center of his utilitarian
philosophy. What is important is
that individuals are free to think
and act as they please, without
interference, even if what they do is
harmful to them. Every individual,
says Mill in his essay On Liberty,
is “sovereign over his own bodyTHE AGE OF REVOLUTION
and mind.” His ideas came to
embody Victorian liberalism,
softening the radical ideas that had
led to revolutions in Europe and
America, and combining them with
the idea of freedom from interference
by authority. This, for Mill, is the
basis for just governance and the
means to social progress, which
was an important Victorian ideal.
He believes that if society leaves
individuals to live in a way that
makes them happy, it enables them
to achieve their potential. This
in turn benefits society, as the
achievements of individual talents
contribute to the good of all.
In his own lifetime Mill was
regarded as a significant philosopher,
and he is now considered by many
to be the architect of Victorian
liberalism. His utilitarian-inspired
philosophy had a direct influence on
social, political, philosophical, and
economic thinking well into the
20th century. Modern economics
has been shaped from various
interpretations of his application
of utilitarianism to the free market,
notably by the British economist
John Maynard Keynes. In the field
of ethics, philosophers such as
Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper,
William James, and John Rawls all
took Mill as their starting point. ■One person with a belief
is a social power
equal to 99 who have
only interests.
John Stuart MillThe National Society for Women’s
Suffrage was set up in Britain in 1868,
a year after Mill tried to secure their
legal right to vote by arguing for an
amendment to the 1867 Reform Act.