John Stuart Mill was
a brilliant, British, 19th century, philosopher whose ideas resound
with contemporary thought His tutor was a major British
philosopher named Jeremy Bentham and Mill was heavily infulenced by
Bentham. One of the best things about Mill is his clarity of
expression. Of the philosophers I have read, I found his essays
the easiest to understand. I highly recommend reading his works. His treatise On Liberty promotes the concept of freedom that fits
in very well with the American ideal. In particular, he thought
that people should be given freedom up to the point where they infringe
on the freedom of others. Ultimately he felt that this freedom
would lead to personal happiness and an ideal society. His philosophy,
known as Utilitarianism, focused on what was the most useful. When
it came to moral decisions, the choice that resulted in the greatest
happiness for the most people should be opted for. His views
is often attacked as being unrealistic. For example, it could
be argued that the United States does provide the type of freedom
he proposed and yet many are not happy. Morality by his standards
could become quite relative and a person could justify any act by
appealing to the greatest good. However, I think we need to
understand some things about Mill before we dismiss him. First,
he was an avid reader and intellectual who was happiest when he was
growing mentally. Liberty for him meant freedom to improve
oneself. He did this and it worked and so he thought it would
work for others. If you are of the same bend as Mill, i.e. desire
to grow and become a better person then his ideas really do make sense
and can be of great benefit. However, not everyone is of this
type and so in the end, I think he was a bit overly optimistic. At the very least, we would have to greatly improve the education
and appreciation of knowledge among the population before his ideas
would work on a large scale.
Another work of his On the
Subjection of Women is a treatise on the emancipation of women and
amazingly ahead of his time. It outlines a clear and decisive
case for woman’s rights.
Another great read is his autobiography
which is fairly short and very interesting.
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