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LIFE

Life

 was born in Pentonville, then a suburb of London

 eldest son of James Mill, (a philosophical radical; utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham)
 mother was Harriet Barrow

 began to learn Greek at three and Latin at eight. By the age of fourteen he had read most of the Greek and
Latin classics, had made a wide survey of history, had done extensive work in logic and mathematics, and
had mastered the basics of economic theory. At fifteen John Stuart Mill undertook the study of Bentham's
various fragments on the theory of legal evidence

 In 1823, his father secured him a junior position in the East India Company. He rose in the ranks, eventually
to occupy his father's position of Chief Examiner in 1856.

 In 1826, Mill suffered a sudden attack of intense depression. By reading Wordsworth's poetry, the
depression gradually disappeared. It gave him a sense of greater human possibilities.

 Mill met Gustave d'Eichtahl in 1828. D'Eichtahl was a follower of St. Simon, and introduced Mill to the latter
and to the works of Auguste Comte. Mill also met John Sterling who was a disciple of Coleridge.

o Through these thinkers Mill came to appreciate the role of social and cultural institutions in the
historical development of human beings.

 In 1830 Mill was introduced to Harriet Taylor whom he married in 1851 two years after her husband's death.
 In 1858, during a trip to Europe, she fell fatally ill and died at Avignon

o It was Harriet Taylor who strengthened his conception of the real end of human being is the
progressive development of individuality in all, in women as well as men, in workers as well as
aristocrats.

 After the Indian Mutiny, the British parliament proposed the dissolution of the Company. He was offered a
position on the new advisory council, but he declined. He retired on a reasonable pension in 1858.

 In 1865 Mill was elected to the House of Commons but he failed in his attempt at re-election in 1868.

o He found himself at odds with the aims of his electors and he was unwilling to compromise his own
principles.

 His later work was made easier by the cooperation of Mrs. Taylor's daughter, Helen, who in many respects
took the latter's place in Mill's life. A number of his important works were published posthumously by Helen
Taylor.

 Mill died in 1873 at Avignon, where he is buried next to his wife.

Works:

 System of Logic (1843)

 The Principles of Political Economy (1848)

 Considerations on Representative Government (1851)

 On Liberty (1859)

 Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy. (1861)

 Utilitarianism (1861)

 The Subjection of Women (1869).

 Autobiography (1873)

 Three Essays on Religion. (1874)

SOCIETY

UTILITARIANISM

 Man’s actions are driven towards pleasure and avoidance of pain.

 Maximization of pleasure and happiness is the moral end.
 Some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others.
 Ideas of happiness and contentment are different. (It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a
fool satisfied.)
 It is not the agent's own greatest happiness that matters "but the greatest amount of happiness
altogether.
 Such happiness may only be attained in a civilized society, in which people are free to engage in
their own interests, with all their skills and capabilities, which they have developed and honed in a
good system of education
 Utilitarianism could be attained by the cultivation of the nobleness of character.
 Human beings collectively develop rules to aid them in their efforts to maximize their happiness.
 Goods are needed for satisfaction but goods are scarce and conflicts arise. Norms are then
formed for the distribution of the scarce goods.
 Our natural sympathy works to establish a set of social relations that unite individuals into a
community.
 Greater well being can be achieved only by achieving new forms of social organization.

 Individuality is one of the main ingredients of human happiness. Since individuality is good, it is
necessary to foster social institutions that contribute to that individuality.

Liberty is essential for the progress of individual and society

Liberty as the limit that must be set on society’s power over each individual -approves all
applications of the harm principle and rejects all cases of paternalism, censorship, offense regulation, and
legal moralism.

Liberty of Opinion

(Liberty of belief and feeling, liberty of expressing these beliefs)

(1) the unpopular opinion may be right

(2) If the opinion is wrong, refuting it will allow people to better understand their own opinions

Liberty of Action

(Liberty of tastes and pursuits, Liberty of joining groups)

(1) The nonconformist may be correct, or she may have a way of life that best suits her needs, if not
anybody else's.
(2) They challenge social complacency, and keep society from stagnating.

Liberties can be sacrificed for the sake of a greater good.

Harm Principle- 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.

(1) Individuals are not accountable to society for behavior and actions that affect only them.
(2) A person is answerable for any type of behavior or action that harms others, and in such
cases it is the responsibility of society to punish and curtail such behavior and action

Paternalism and Harm Principle

 A's restriction of B's liberty is paternalistic if it is done for B's own benefit.
 A's restriction of B's liberty is an application of the harm principle if A restrict B's liberty in
order to prevent harm to someone other than B.

Because society offers protection, people are obliged to behave in a certain way, and each member of
society must defend and protect society and all its members from harm. In brief, society must be given
power to curtail behavior that harms others, but no more.

POLITICS

Forms of government are judged according to “utility in the largest sense, grounded on the
permanent interest of man as a progressive being”.

-forms of government are to be evaluated in terms of their capacity to enable each person to exercise and
develop in his or her own way their capacities for higher forms of human happiness.

- Government action always poses a threat to liberty and must be carefully watched.

Liberty is the fundamental human right.

Laws and social arrangements

 (1) should place happiness or the interest of every individual as nearly as possible in harmony of the
interest as a whole;
(2) Education and opinion should use its power to establish in the minds of the individuals the
relation between his happiness and that of the whole.

Rights

-It is never optimal to violate a right, except in cases of conflicts of rights.

-has a valid claim on society to protect him in the possession of it, either by the force of law, or by
that of education and opinion

Representative democracy is the best ideal form of government for societies with sufficient
resources, security, and culture of self-reliance. (Considerations on Representative Government)

(1) Democracy plays an important epistemic role in identifying the common good.
-Proper deliberation about issues affecting the common good requires identifying how different
policies would bear on the interests of affected parties and so requires the proper representation
and articulation of the interests of citizens.

(2) Political participation improves the capacities of citizens.

- The governed can and do participate in public debate and elections they exercise those very
deliberative capacities that it is the aim of government to develop.

-Tendency to foster self-development and individuality

-It leads people to take a more active and intelligent participation in society.

- It provides moral training and encourages the development of natural human sympathies.

Different forms of government are appropriate for states whose citizens lack necessary
ingredients to make democracy promote the common good.

- When citizens are unfit and passive, democracy may cause tyranny.

- Social institutions need to be adapted to the time and place.

Mill does not think that representatives will always craft legislation themselves, especially not on technical
topics of economics, health, or law. Rather, they will often delegate the work of drafting policy on such
topics to expert civil servants. Representatives assume responsibility for such legislation by articulating
the objectives of these policies and reviewing proposed policies prior to enacting them.

ECONOMICS

Production and Distribution

Mill argues that the laws of production may be natural laws, but the laws of distribution are created and
enacted by human beings. In other words, wealth is the natural end product of labor, but the distribution of
wealth is determined by the decisions and the will of actual people (the elite) and is not simply part of the
order of nature. Human laws and institutions can and should determine how wealth is distributed.

Basic requisites that enable production to occur:

(1) Labor
(2) Natural objects

People must labor to utilize almost anything found in the natural world.

Labor

-agent of production but not all labor leads to the production of material objects.

Three types of utilities

(1) the creation of objects for human use, wherein labor invests external material things with
properties that make these things usable.
(2) Some labor renders human beings serviceable to society and to themselves, such as the labor of
teachers and doctors.
(3) Labor of giving pleasure or entertainment, which does not make other people more productive or
result in a tangible product.

Capital

(Same as goods): accumulated stock of the products of labor

Fixed vs. Circulating

(Same as capital goods vs. consumable goods)

Limited Capacities of Labor and Land

Allocation of Property and Produce

Social Progress

 -increase of knowledge
 -the improved protection of citizens and property
 -the transformation of taxes so they are less oppressive
 -the avoidance of war
 -the increase in the prosperity of the people brought about by improvements in business
capacities, including the more effective employment of the citizens through education

-not infinite. Society may become stagnant if production does not increase.

Proposes that governments should adopt a laissez-faire policy

 -in that they would abstain from interfering with individual choice and grant unconstrained
freedom to people, who should be able to pursue their happiness without restrictions
 -Benefits of free competition and the useful and favorable social energies that competition
releases
 - Private monopolies must be prevented, the poor must be properly looked after, and the education
of children must be suitably available.

Mill believes that society will continue to grow and change, but he recognizes that such change is limited
by the capabilities of the land and of labor, both of which have to be handled with care since neither can
continue to produce an increasing amount in order to satisfy a growing demand.

Taxation

To achieve equality of opportunity, Mill endorses various redistributive tax. He defends a flat tax rate on
earned income above a threshold necessary to secure a decent minimum standard of living, leaving
earned income below this threshold untaxed. In addition, he endorses the use of higher tax rates on
unearned income and on inheritance.

Speculate the future of the laboring classes

He foresees rising beyond the patriarchal values of society and becoming emancipated through
education. The newly empowered working class will generate massive change in society.

SUBJECTION OF WOMEN

[T]he principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes — the legal
subordination of one sex to the other — is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human
improvement; and … it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or
privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other [I 1].

 We don't know what women are capable of, because we have never let them try.
 The nature of women is unknown because it is influenced by how they are nurtured. Mill suggests
we should test out what women can and can't do.

 Women are brought up as weak, emotional, docile- a traditional prejudice

 Society should establish a free market for all of the services women perform, ensuring a fair
economic return for their contributions to the general welfare.

 Emancipation and education of women would have positive benefits for men also. The stimulus of
female competition and companionship of equally educated persons would result in the greater
intellectual development of all.

 Mill attacks marriage laws, which he likens to the slavery of women,

 Women must be allowed to vote to protect their own interests.

 The tyranny of custom made women weak, emotional and passive.

 By pursuing equality, they can be productive, free from the dictates of men.

 Hence, society in general will be benefited from what women can contribute for the higher service
of humanity.
 Human development would be attainable because half of the population’s ideas and potentials
would be used.