John Stuart Mill
Philosopher · 1806-1873 · Philosophy, stage 3: Meet the thinkers
Refined utilitarianism by weighing the quality of pleasures, not just their quantity, and became one of the era's strongest defenders of individual liberty.
Overview
John Stuart Mill was raised under an intense education program designed by his father, and he went on to become the leading philosophical voice of 19th-century British liberalism. He inherited utilitarianism from Jeremy Bentham but revised it, arguing in Utilitarianism that pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity, so that intellectual and moral pleasures count for more than purely physical ones. In On Liberty, he makes one of the classic arguments for individual freedom, holding that society may restrict a person's actions only to prevent harm to others, not simply because those actions are unpopular or thought unwise. Mill's writing is unusually accessible for the period, which makes both books reasonable starting points for a first-time reader.
Where to start reading
Utilitarianism 1863
Mill's defense and refinement of utilitarian ethics, best known for distinguishing higher, intellectual pleasures from lower, bodily ones.
On Liberty 1859
A defense of individual freedom against both government power and social pressure, built around the principle that harm to others is the only justified reason to restrict someone's actions.
Part of
Sources
- John Stuart Mill Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Mill Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
