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Essays on some unsettled Questions of Political Economy is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by John Stuart Mill is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of John Stuart Mill then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1861 edition by Parker, Son, and Bourn, London. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrible edition
As you read throug the Prometheus Great Books in Philosophy edition, you'll find that 32 pages are missing. Although these seems to be a very enlightning and interesting book, you'll never know it if you read thisedition.I found another complaint about these editions in a review ohThomas Hobbes Leviathan. I guess Amazon should be more carefull about theirmerchandise, or at least inform its costumers of the problems. ... Read more

Product Description
The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill which includes On Liberty, the Subjection of Women and Utilitarianism written by legendary English philosopher and political theorist John Stuart Mill is widely considered to be three of the greatest books of all time. These great classics will surely attract a whole new generation of John Stuart Mill readers. For many, On Liberty, the Subjection of Women and Utilitarianism is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, the combination of these three gems by John Stuart Mill is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books America and beautifully produced, The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill: On Liberty, the Subjection of Women and Utilitarianism would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great Collection
This collects three of John Stuart Mill's best-known and most influential essays:On Liberty, Utilitarianism, and The Subjection of Women. The main topics are different, but the essays are tightly connected - not only written close together but fitting to a greater or lesser extent the ambitious philosophical system outlined in Mill's A System of Logic. His life project was essentially to adapt the utilitarian moral/political philosophy inherited from Jeremy Bentham via his father James Mill to mid-Victorian social problems. This involved significant changes and substantial liberalizing, making Mill a classical liberalism exponent and strong forerunner of all subsequent liberal ideals and practices. Together and individually, the essays have had an immense impact on political, moral, philosophical, and economic thought. Reading them together is instructive and interesting. The writings are also held together by Mill's consistently lucid, smooth, and articulate style. This is a pleasant surprise given his fearsomely learned reputation. He relies almost exclusively on words the average reader understands, and his prose is remarkably readable a century and a half later, lacking the overblown floweriness and excessive stiltedness that now make much Victorian writing, especially non-fiction, insufferably dull.

On Liberty is a profound and engaging philosophical and practical defense of personal liberty, epitomized by the famous Harm Principle that all are free to do as they wish provided it does not harm others. It is the state's job to ensure the former right is upheld and the latter transgression punished. Mill's argument is very strong - convincing not only as an inherent right but also as a practical advantage to individuals and society. This is probably now his most famous work, and it is very easy to see why; his argument is not only compelling philosophically but widely applicable and, at about 140 pages, easily read by nearly all. Everyone from pure philosophers to political theorists to practical politicians to general readers can find something to like and learn.

Utilitarianism is Mill's most direct attempt to refine his inherited doctrine. Even more concise than On Liberty, this also essentially picks up where it left off, delving into the practical problem of how to deal with conflicting liberties. Mill retains the core utilitarian tenet that what brings the most happiness for the most people should be acted on - a very appealing doctrine in itself and put forth more palatably and persuasively than by the prior generation. However, utilitarianism's many critics will find little to convince them; however ideally attractive, many practical problems arise when issues such as relative happiness and harm turn up, as well as the thorny problem of how to enforce utilitarianism and punish transgressions. Mill makes some headway, covering nearly all conceivable ground in general principles but leaving much practical application unaddressed. It may be the most spirited utilitarianism defense ever but unfortunately is not complete, however admirable in many ways.

The Subjection deals exclusively with a subject at least implied in the prior essays - female oppression. This classic essay is the culmination of an issue Mill had been passionately involved in since youth, when he was arrested for distributing literature about contraception. It is the most important, famous, and influential feminist text between Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, coming about halfway between them. That it was written by a man, one born to a substantial amount of privilege and who was around very few women until adulthood at that, is of course all the more incredible. Going well beyond his prior call for suffrage, it pushes for nothing less than full equality, not even stopping at legal equality but valiantly trying to change thought and custom. Mill's suffrage arguments are numerous and near-irrefutable. He has the noble distinction of being the first MP to propose female suffrage - in the 1860s! He would surely be glad to know the substantial progress since made, however disappointed - if not surprised - he may have been to know it would take sixty years to be realized.

However, the vast majority of the essay deals with the rest of female oppression, a far more formidable barrier - one that, indeed, has sadly still not been fully crossed. The arguments are again very strong. Following a short historical overview of female oppression and a blunt survey of its then current forms, Mill proceeds to demolish its basis. In perhaps the most brilliant and admirable application of utilitarianism ever, he convincingly shows that female oppression is not only a great evil to women but also to men and all of society. He uses many examples and arguments to show that ending it is both a moral necessity and a prescription for many social ills. The many later advances have proven much of what he said, even if he was perhaps too optimistic in some respects. It is a sad comment on human progress that several of the ideals he passionately and articulately argued for, such as equality of intellect in marriage, are still uncommon and even scorned.

Though Subjection is admitted even by Mill's many detractors to be his argumentative tour de force, it has a few limitations. First, one of his main arguments is that Victorian - nay, all historical - assumptions about inherent differences between men and women, as well as the latter's inferiority, are premature because women had never existed in a state of social equality with men. This is certainly true as far as it goes - indeed, irrefutable at the time. Though he argues forcefully for equality in any situation, he does not even address the substantial question of what, if anything, should or must be done if inherent differences are found. This defect was then nothing more than abstract and, in fact, very subservient to the cause of advancing female rights. However, the near-equality women now have in developed countries means we must look at the issue somewhat differently. The question of inherent differences, much less relative superiority, is still far from answered - may indeed be even less clear. Even so, many of the issues Mill left unaddressed because moot are now very real, even pressing. They may leave his central arguments untouched - one would in fact be very hard-pressed to find a better argument for female equality anywhere -, but the essay is certainly more incomplete now, though still substantially valuable. Finally, though Mill's liberalism on the question is almost unbelievable for a man of his time and place, some of his statements and suggestions, not least his claim that the arrangement of man as breadwinner/woman as domestic engineer - to use the (I believe) currently politically correct term - probably is best after all, will rankle current feminists. To be fair, he does not say it prescriptively - indeed refrains from ruling anything out for women in any respect -, but Victorianism's ugly specter sneaking in even here is bound to disturb some. This of course hardly negates the rest, and The Subjection is still - and surely always will be - essential for anyone even remotely interested in women's struggle.

Anyone curious about Mill or any of these issues must read these essays.

Probably the Worst Printing of Any Book I Have Ever Purchased
Perhaps I received by mistake a bad printing, but this book's errors are far too many to list in a review of this length. They include:
1) No introduction, notes, index, or indeed any pages that do not contain the text of the book, save the title page.
2) A typo-per-page ratio rivaled by 2nd-grade essays, appearing to insist that "t" is a word in the English language.
3) Multiple printing errors, causing several sections to be printed multiple times. I have no guarantee that the entire text of these works is in fact contained in the book.
4) Extremely uncomfortable margins that give the feel of an edition produced by a press more accustomed to printing single sheets of paper than books.
5) The lack of any names inside the book whom I could hold accountable for such a farcical edition of a classic writer being released.

If you think I'm making any of this up, just look at the top of the book's amazon page at the product description. It is by far the most poorly written "professional" description of a book I have ever come across--and that is the exact text that appears on the back of my book.

Do yourself a favor and buy any edition of Mill's work but this one.

Classic Books America Edition is Riddled With Errors!
I bought the Classic Books America paperback entitled The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill, my intent being to read The Subjection of Women, one of the three works by Mill included here. The first two pages had three sentences that were either missing words or otherwise garbled. there are many editions of Mill available - don't buy this one!

Every Politician Should Read This
These three (fairly long) essays on the liberty of the individual, practical ethics, and the role of women are absolutely fundamental. Though written in the mid-19th-century, Mill still has a message for today, and that for three reasons:

(1) He was ahead of his time and his thoughts helped shape our society. By reading him, we are looking at and appreciating our foundation.

(2) His lucid thoughts are a good reminder not to lose our values when we (and especially our governments) are in danger of doing so by unnecessarily infringing on the liberty of the individual.

(3) Some of his critiques are even more applicable today than back then. For example, Mill shows that technological progress, too, can be an infringement on individuality. Said he,

"The circumstances which surround different classes and individuals, and shape their characters, are daily becoming more assimilated. Formerly, different ranks, different neighbourhoods, different trades and professions, lived in what might be called different worlds; at present, to a great degree in the same. Comparatively speaking, they now read the same things, listen to the same things, see the same things, go to the same places, have their hopes and fears directed to the same objects, have the same rights and liberties, and the same means of asserting them. Great as are the differences of position which remain, they are nothing to those which have ceased. And the assimilation is still proceeding. All the political changes of the age promote it, since they all tend to raise the low and to lower the high. Every extension of education promotes it, because education brings people under common influences, and gives them access to the general stock of facts and sentiments. Improvements in the means of communication promote it, by bringing the inhabitants of distant places into personal contact, and keeping up a rapid flow of changes of residence between one place and another."

Reading the same things, listening to the same things, seeing and doing and thinking the same things - that is even more true today than in the 19th century. I think it's safe to say that Mill would have been horrified at much of today's pop culture, pop thinking, and pop politics. Horrified not as some kind of self-righteous purist, but as someone who believed in the value of individuality and who saw individuality destroyed by pop sameness.

One area in which he applied this danger of sameness was education. For me, this is especially interesting, since I live in Germany. For various reasons, my wife and I want to homeschool our children, which is illegal here. Germany does not just have mandatory education, but mandatory *schooling* (a holdover from Hitler, by the way).

Now this is what Mill said about sameness vs. individuality in education:

"If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children, and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay for them. The objections which are urged with reason against State education, do not apply to the enforcement of education by the State, but to the State's taking upon itself to direct that education: which is a totally different thing.

"That the whole or any large part of the education of the people should be in State hands, I go as far as any one in deprecating. All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education. A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation, in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body.

"An education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exist at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried on for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence. Unless, indeed, when society in general is in so backward a state that it could not or would not provide for itself any proper institutions of education, unless the government undertook the task: then, indeed, the government may, as the less of two great evils, take upon itself the business of schools and universities, as it may that of joint stock companies, when private enterprise, in a shape fitted for undertaking great works of industry, does not exist in the country.

"But in general, if the country contains a sufficient number of persons qualified to provide education under government auspices, the same persons would be able and willing to give an equally good education on the voluntary principle, under the assurance of remuneration afforded by a law rendering education compulsory, combined with State aid to those unable to defray the expense."

Before I end up quoting the whole essay on Liberty, let me draw rein here.

As for the other two essays, in "The Subjection of Women," Mill mainly says (I paraphrase), "Why should we deny women certain rights and positions on the ground that they are supposedly unfit for them? If they are unfit, they will prove their unfitness by trying. If they succeed, they succeed. This means that forbidding them rights is completely superfluous if they are not equal to the task and completely unjust if they are equal."

And the point of the essay "Utilitarianism" is not, as I had previously thought, a justification of the means by the end. It is not a kind of morality that, because it teaches the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, inevitably leads to the tyranny of the majority over the minority. In fact, like the essay on Liberty, it is a plea for the opposite: for a society that respects and protects the individual as much as possible.

Needless to say, it was a great read. I wish every politician in the world made this their bed-time literature. Come to think of it, it wouldn't hurt to lose a little individuality by *everyone* reading this book.

Mill has a point
"On Liberty," "The Subjection of Women," and "Utilitarianism" contain important information on human liberty. It's also important for the world of today because most or us are sick and tired of racism and government suppression. John Stuart Mill talks of the individual's rights in "On Liberty," the women's rights in "The Subjection of Women," and government control in "Utilitarianism". He makes good points on many things, including marriage, trade, freedom of religion, etc. Now, the author's writing is complex, so a dictionary MUST be handy. And a few parts don't really make sense (the notes do help a lot). But all in all, the basic writings of Mill shouldn't be forgotten.

A- ... Read more

Product Description
1924. Published for the first time without alterations or omissions from the original transcript. Mill's autobiography shows the growth of a man in the midst of his age. It is the personal, though dispassionate, story of the conflict of an integrated spirit with the ideas and with the affairs of men. One sees an age, and one sees a man; both man and age are so much a part of our own day that by knowing them we learn to know ourselves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Mill telling it like it is
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

I have to say that I found Mill's Autobiography left me wanting to read a good biography of him in order to learn more about his personal life and interaction with family and friends.He certainly did not reveal himself in the way Jean Jacques Rousseau did in his much-ballyhooed autobiography The Confessions.I do understand that his wife Harriett edited the autobiography to the extent that there is no mention of Mill's mother in it.Other than his education and his reference to taking walks with his father to talk about books he had read, he says little about their relationship.In addition, there is only a passing reference to having to serve as schoolmaster to his siblings while he was an adolescent and he does not mention them again.Mill spent most of his adulthood working for the East India Company; however, he says little about that experience in his autobiography.It seems he had few friends as an adult, if you go by his autobiography.There is a brief reference about his friendship with George Grote, the eminent historian of Greek history.Thus, the impression that I got of Mill the man was one of an emotionally cold person socially except to his wife Harriett, who I believe was the only person in his life he truly loved.Most of his autobiography is dedicated to his education; such as, books he had read or written and philosophers he was influenced by, and this is a part of his life that I found most interesting.

In Mill's autobiography, he tells readers how he benefited and suffered from having one of the most unique educational experiences known to humankind.His father was personally involved in both his education and that of his other siblingsHe was a brilliant student who read Greek by the age of three and Latin at eight years old.By the time he matured to adulthood, he was extremely well read.Thus, he received an academically rigorous education at home, and I find that his education really defined and shaped his character.Providing and improving education for all humans was a cornerstone of his philosophical belief in Utilitarianism.Education meant that people could develop their higher pleasures; a concept that Mill thought was of paramount importance to increase one's happiness.He invented this concept and differed with Jeremy Bentham, the progenitor of Utilitarianism, on this point.Bentham did not believe there was a qualitative property to happiness--Mill did.Thus, it is no mystery that in adulthood he developed very strong views on the advantages that universal education would have on improving people's characters.Mill believed universal education would lead to fostering social change for the betterment of all mankind.He stayed consistent on this belief throughout his life.He gave what I think was one of the great speeches on education and character formation in 1867 after accepting the position as Rector of the University of St. Andrews.In his Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St. Andrews, one of the points that he made in his speech was the responsibility that universities had in building their students' characters.He also wrote about the importance of character formation had on the ability for people to enjoy freedom in society in his book On Liberty.However, he personally found that his education had come at a great price to his emotional well-being.

During the winter of 1826 and into 1827 while in his early twenties, Mill recognized that he was suffering from a bout with depression.This is the only portion of his autobiography where Mill exposes his inner emotions to his readers.He believed his depression stemmed from an inadequacy in his education.He came to realize that although his father provided him a superior education on many intellectual levels, it was negligent in social contact with children of his own age, and did not prepare him emotionally for interaction with other members of society.His parents and visitors treated him as an adult from early childhood.Mill realized that his upbringing led up to his inability to feel a normal range of human emotions; thus, he felt detached from humanity.Mill found that reading poetry by Wordsworth in 1828 ultimately broke his depression.In poetry, Mill found that he could feel sorrow, and sympathize with others.

I found this part of his autobiography of importance for three reasons.First, it is the only painful human emotional event in his life that he divulges to his readers.Secondly, it is an indication of the importance that the concept of sympathy played in his life and formed his philosophical views as well.Mill understood the need for humans to be sympathetic to one another.Sympathy is required for social interaction and is a useful character trait that we use in order to keep us from harming each other.Thirdly, without his awakening of this emotion in his life, I seriously doubt that he would have found the capacity to love his wife Harriett in the manner that he did.One does get the sense from his description of her that she was his true soul mate and only real long lasting friend in his life.

Mill's friendship with Harriett while she was married to another man, caused them both to endure scandalous gossip, even though they both denied there relationship had any sexual component to it.When they eventually married each other about two years after she became a widow, Mill stayed true to his life long conviction in believing in equal rights for women.During Mill's time, married women's property automatically devolved to their husband and he correctly saw this as one more inequity against women placed on them by society.Therefore, on the day when he married Harriett Taylor in 1851, a financially secure widow, he wrote a formal renunciation to all of her property in protest against the current law.He was a life long feminist who wrote in his essay The Subjection of Women, about the scathing inequalities that women endured since the history of mankind had been chronicled.I have no doubt that his essay paved the way in changing marriage and divorce laws and fostered the improvement of relations between the sexes.He was also the first Member of Parliament to introduce a bill in the Commons to enfranchise women.He worked tirelessly at the end of his life, supporting women's rights with his pen and his purse.His stepdaughter Helen carried on his feminist work by becoming a leader in the suffragist movement in her own right.

In total, I would say that although the Autobiography provides scant information into Mill's daily life, when he does reveal himself, it appears he consistently lived up to his philosophical teachings and beliefs.

A classic worthy of being called a classic
This book is so wonderful on so many different levels that to give it a review at all would be a disservice.My recommendation is not on whether or not to read it but instead on how to read it.I suggest a quiet room, comfortable chair or couch, cup of coffee and a few hours of uninterrupted reading time.After completing the book, rest and repeat as desired.

"The Econony of Melancholy"
Mill's remarkable childhood education prepared him to be one of the leading intellectuals of his day (far surpassing his father, James Mill, who was no slouch, but not in his son's league) but while I admire his erudition and achievements, one has to wonder if the deep depression he fell into in his mid-20s had something to do with that.

Mill's contributions are better remembered than many of the other famous British intellectuals of the period--such as Herbert Spencer--whose particularly invidious version of the theory of Social Darwinism is best left languishing in obscurity. Who today remembers the prolific Spencer, whose collected works run to over 20 large volumes?

Mill is frank about his depression and how debilitating it was, and what a struggle it was to pull through it. But with the help of his best friend, he pulled out of it and went on to write many important works in philosophy, logic, political science, and economics.

Mill's I.Q. was certainly very high (estimated by psychologist Katherine Cox using a modified ratio I.Q. method to be at least 200), but very likely his father's misguided efforts to produce a prodigy and homegrown, British Wunderkind (to compete with the legendary "Infant of Lubeck," no doubt :-)) were the cause of his long, serious depression.

Mill's text on econonics, which was called Political Economy back in those days (also the title of his book, if I remember right), was the longest running and most successful college text of all time, being used for the next 50 years until the 1920s when the "New Economics" of the day, championed by the field of microeconomics and the theory of the firm, made a more modern, updated text necessary.

For me the most interesting part of the book was Mill's theory of history, with positive periods of creative cultural development being followed by periods of negation and dissolution. Mill summarizes it as follows (I think I'm remembering the quote more or less accurately): "During the positive periods mankind adopts with conviction some positive creed, claiming jurisdiction for all their actions proceeding from it, and possessing more or less of the truth and adaptation to the needs of humanity; when a period follows of negation and dissolution, during which mankind loses its old beliefs, of a general and authoritative character, except the belief that the old are false." Mills theory has parallels to the earlier Hegel's historical dialectic and later to Oswald Spengler's theory, and to later 20th century historian Arnold Toynbee's idea of "challenge and response."

For another more literary (and probably more interesting) take on depression by another British intellectual, you might try Richard Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (not to be confused with the African explorer by the same name). After all, anyone who says that "Giraffes live for love," not to mention palm trees, can't be all bad. :-)

Bah, humbug! Caramba! Mein Gott! Baka da na! Sacre bleu!
Ever wonder for which bipolar monomaniac the Sorcerer's Apprentice worked? Now you know. Drier than Dryden, boot-licking admirer of the thief of his childhood, humorless bookworm of a dusty aristocrat, protonerd ex machina in extremis. When Continent-lazing navel-gazers concern themselves with improving society, oil your firearms. I'd rather a deep belly laugh than Mill's musings, any day.

Mind is not enough
John Stuart Mill was raised by his father to be his intellectual heir, and a great genius. There is something moving about the care taken by the father to teach his wunderkind son all that he knew. The father was with Jeremy Bentham the guiding spirit of the philosophical movementUtilitarianism. Utilitarianism was a mechanical kind of philosophy which thought it possible to measure the goodness of action by measuring the amount of pleasure against the amount of pain. Mill followed the path his father set out from him, adopted his father's values and social conscience and was already by the tender age of twenty a distinguished intellectual figure. But then he asked himself the question if the realization of all his social schemes and all the grand social ideals would bring him happiness. And he understood that it would not. He understood in other words that all this focus on outward good and action, on mechanical measures for human life was missing some vital component in life and in himself. Mill went into a great depression. What brought him out was the reading of the poetry of Wordsworth and the understanding that there is a dimension of feeling, a dimension of the inner life which is somehow more important than all the social thought. This did not mean that Mill abandoned the path of social reform but rather that he changed its direction. Part of this change had to do with his meeting his relationship with Harriet Taylor, his embracing in a certain sense of liberal ideas on the role of women in society. Mill found himself and continued on his intellectual path, a path which would lead him to produce one of the masterpieces of modern political thought, "On Liberty ". ... Read more

Product Description
The standard economics textbook for more than a generation, PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, written by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) in 1848, is as much a synthesis of his predecessors' ideas as an original treatise on economics. Heavily influenced by the work of David Ricardo, and taking ideas from Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus, Mill demonstrates how important economic concept can be applied to realworld situations.

Reflecting his utilitarian social philosophy, Mill suggests that social improvements are always possible. He thus proposes modifying a purely laissez-faire system, advocating trade protectionism and regulation of employees' work hours for the benefit of domestic industries and workers' well-being. In such features he displays a leaning toward socialism.

For anyone with an interest in the history of economics or the history of ideas, Mill's landmark work still makes for stimulating reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Some Missing Details
Mill is the great synthesis of nineteenth-century economics. The Principles are tedious at times, but provide a generally illuminating account of the ways nineteenth-century citizens reconciled themselves to an increasingly quantified world. Mill engages usefully with most major economic theories of his time, including inheritance rights, speculation, taxation, and the well-being of the working class.

If you're using this edition for a historical or otherwise scholarly project, please be aware that it's based on the 1865, rather than 1848, edition. Some of Mill's revisions are substantial.

The Hobo Philosopher
This is a very good and very pertinent book. If the people of the time had paid more attention to Mill as opposed to Ricardo and then Marx our world would definitely have been a safer and more peaceful place. Mill has some very sound economic ideas. His ideas are not only reasonable and rational they are possible, compassionate and much more sensible that what we have today; ideas that should be revived and reviewed today. He has a number of interesting answers to basic economic problems. If economics is your passion don't miss this one. This man is no dummy.

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie"
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.
"Noble Notes on Famous Folks" Humor, satire, facts. ... Read more

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Autobiography. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more

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Since its first publication in 1859, few works of political philosophy have provoked such continuous controversy as John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty", a passionate argument on behalf of freedom of self-expression. This classic work is now available in this volume which also includes essays by scholars in a range of fields. The text begins with a biographical essay by David Bromwich and an interpretative essay by George Kateb. Then Jean Bethke Elshtain, Owen Fiss, Judge Richard A. Posner and Jeremy Waldron present commentaries on the pertinence of Mill's thinking to early 21st century debates. They discuss, for example, the uses of authority and tradition, the shifting legal boundaries of free speech and free action, the relation of personal liberty to market individualism, and the tension between the right to live as one pleases and the right to criticize anyone's way of life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bromwich and Kateb Edition is Very Helpful.
I ihave read Mill's On Liberty three times now. The Bromwich and Kateb version is the most helpful, as we not only get to read Mill's essay, but 6 supplementary essays - two "introductions" and four sometimes critical "reinterpretations" by respected theorists.

Milll's basic point is simple: people should be left free to think and do as they please unless what they are doing causes actual harm to others. Mill's essay is spent both giving reasons for this principle, and exlporing what the principle means in practice.

He offers a plurality of reasons for his libertarian ideas, some utilitarian in nature and some based on (what some might call) natural law. Not only does freedom of action and thought encourage innnovation, keep public discussion vigorous, and lead to a more effective social network than government incursion, but people just-plain prefer directing their own lives to being directed from outside.

Mill gets into sticky territory, however, when he talks about the libertarian principle in concrete terms, as his distinction between what is private and what is public is often less clear than he might want. Should persons be free to tell others to do harm to themselves? Yes. Should parents be free not to educate their children? No. Should "vice-merchants" like bars, gambling parlors, and pornographers be free to conduct business without heavy government regulation? No. Should people be free to marry a plurality of spouses? If mormon, yes. If British, no.

My biggest criticism - and a criticism offered in Richard Posner and Jeane Bethke Elshtain's essays - is that Mill is all over the map when his principle is "put to the real world" because the distinction between public and private is just-plain fuzzy. Another interesting criticism, brought up in Elshtain's essay, is that Mill demonstrates a very unjustified bias in favor of experiment over tradition (where the former seems always presumed inferior to the latter).

In short, I like Mill's essay but see it as an edifice built on not-quite-solid sand. Mill relies on seperate categories, public and private, that are just not clear and distinct enough to be distinct. (While Dewey may have gone too far in the "all acts are social" direction, I think Dewey hit closer to the truth.) This is why the six supplementary essays in this edition are a nice touch. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Got me thinking
This is my first reading of anything by Mill.This book is on several lists of great works and I can clearly understand why it is.The author is explaining the theory of utility that attempts to explain the difference between good and bad, and justice and injustice.He explained his theory clearly and covered several difficult points in an elegant manner.This book is quite short, and it is amazing what he covered in such a concise, yet powerful manner.

This is the free kindle edition and it worked out great for me.It has no table of contents or links, but in this short work I didn't find them necessary.The built in dictionary in the kindle came in handy since Mill used several words that I hadn't seen before.I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in philosophy.I'll have to read more of Mill's works.

Utilitarian = Happiness for All
John Stuart Mill was one of the most influential British philosophers and writers in the 1800s. His treatise on utilitarianism was written to explain the philosophical concept because he stated that it had been misutilized or mischaracterized by numerous influential people of his time.This version of his writings includes:

Chapter 1. General Remarks
Chapter 2.What utilitarianism is
Chapter 3.Of the ultimate sanction of the principle of utility
Chapter 4.Of what sort of proof the principle of utility is susceptible
Chapter 5.Of the connexion between justice and utility

While much of his writing can be lengthy and occasionally difficult to understand, I find his written arguments contribute greatly to the development of logical thought. Perhaps my favorite quote from John Stuart Mill is "In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. To do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbor as yourself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality."

And that ...

"Happiness which forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct, is not the agent's own happiness, but that of all concerned."

This is a great introduction to utilitarianism and use of logic.

Utilitarianism explained
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.If you could only read one book to grasp the genius of Mill, this is the book to read!

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism.He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive.Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori.Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about.Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong.However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles.Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong.Mill would disagree.Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example.In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying.A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain.This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration.Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure.Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is.Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality.Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains.So, they say that one of two things must be going on here.Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another.Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity.So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater.Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure.So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved.In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value.So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value.Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.

In John Stuart Mill's autobiography, he tells readers how he benefited and suffered from having one of the most unique educational experiences known to humankind.His father, James Mill, was personally involved in the education of John and his other siblingsJohn was a brilliant student who read Greek by the age of three and Latin at eight years old.By the time he matured to adulthood, he was extremely well read.Thus, John received an academically rigorous education at home; however, it was devoid of any interaction and social contact with other children his own age.In adulthood, he developed very strong views about the advantages that universal education would have on improving people's characters, which would lead to fostering social change for the better.In addition, he held very strong beliefs on reforming university curriculum to improve Britain's intellectual class.Mill summarized many of his ideas on education in 1867 after accepting the position as Rector of the University of St. Andrews.In his Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St. Andrews, one of the points that he made in his speech was the responsibility that universities had in building their student's characters.In large measure, the type of curriculum the university taught to its students would in part shape one's character.More importantly, the proper university curriculum would ultimately provide student's with the tools necessary to continue to learn throughout their lives, critically analyze, and if necessary become agents for change in society.He thought that this goal was best served in two ways.First, he believed immersing students in Western civilization's classical works especially the great works of the Greeks and Romans was an important foundation of knowledge.Secondly, he also believed that reading contemporary works of literature was of paramount importance to develop the human character.

As an intellectual himself, Mill was especially interested in the development of the character of gifted people who had the ability to develop a higher intellect than most of their peers.Mill's writings are replete with advice as to what knowledge he thought was most worth attaining to develop one's character and intellect.Looking at what Mill wrote regarding the proper kind of education the intellectually gifted should receive in a university, is where one can then start to ascertain what side he would support in the canon vs. multicultural debate.Although I will use key passages from his writings to illuminate why Mill would ultimately champion the supporters of an increased multicultural curriculum for universities, I also find there is evidence in his writings that he would insist that student's posses a knowledge base in the canon.As an example, in his essay titled Civilization in 1836, which was written when he was 30 years old, one finds Mill's early and life long penchant for studying the classics of ancient Greece and Rome."Such is the principle of all academical instruction which aims at forming great minds.Ancient literature would fill a large place in such a course of instruction; because it brings before us the thoughts and actions of many great minds."

I find the influence that the classic Greek cultural had on Mill is most illuminating.Williams found that Mill's experience with the Greeks was largely comprised of his reviews he wrote for his friend, George Grote; on his multi-volume work, Grote's History of Greece, as well as Mill's own translations of several of Plato's dialogues.To say that Mill was enamored with the classical Greeks would be a gross understatement.In a review of Grote's work Mill penned the following about the Greeks."They were the most remarkable people ever to have existed: in historical literature, oratory, poetry, sculpture, architecture, mathematics, physics, politics, and philosophy they made the indispensable first steps, originating speculation and freedom of thought."Mill's interest in the Greeks was in primarily what they had to contribute to present society in the study of politics and philosophy.He thought the Greeks in these two areas had the most influence both on Western civilization as a whole, and was very useful in character formation in educating both the masses and the intelligentsia.In his review of Grote's works, Mill wrote that, in essence, the Athenian democratic model "afforded the mental tranquility which is also one of the conditions of high intellectual or imaginative achievement."Thus, the Athenian society based on liberty would become the historical foundation that Mill would use to defend his own political as well as philosophical views for the improvement of society.

Some 31 years after writing his essay Civilization, Mill's theories for properly educating citizens and the proper makeup of a university curriculum were brilliantly articulated in his Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St. Andrews in 1867.In this speech, he decried the idea of what universities had become."Universities are not intended to teach the knowledge required to fit men for some special mode of gaining their livelihood.Their object is not to make skilful lawyers, or physicians, or engineers, but capable and cultivated human beings."He understood that only people with a well grounded education in liberal arts could become the intellectual nucleus that was ultimately necessary to lead and improve society.

Mill's book On Liberty makes his most passionate argument for fostering a pluralistic society.In essence, he articulated the argument that people needed to have more freedom than they had to develop their characters.Mill's concern was that if a majority of people in society were invested with unlimited power they could tyrannize the minority.Although On Liberty is a major treatise of political philosophy, it is also recognized more generally as a work of social philosophy--more so than any other work by Mill.It is not just about what kind of government we should have and how it should behave, but also more importantly, it is about what kind of society we should have and how we aught to live together.

Mill makes a cogent argument in chapter two of On Liberty that really gets to the essence of his arguments.In the chapter, he questions whether society should censor new doctrines simply because they do not conform to its current norms or beliefs.He says that essentially there are three things that may be true of new doctrines when they are proposed.1) The doctrine might be true; 2) it might be false; and 3) it might be partially true.Mill provides a variety of reasons why the censorship of new doctrines is a bad idea.He believed that most doctrines contain only partial truths but not the whole truth.As an example, when he examined the history of religion he found this to be the case.Although he saw most laudable teachings in Christianity he thought that Judaism and the Koran also had laudable teachings for humankind that were not found in the New Testament.Thus, for the betterment of humankind he believed the best teachings of all three religions should be combined.I believe Mill's real genius as an intellectual was depicted by his impressive ability to find the little kernels of truth in other people's doctrines and synthesize them.Mill postulated that there were few original thinkers in history, and that most ideas that members of society adopt are really the best bits and pieces of a larger doctrine.

brilliant introduction to preliminary thoughts on utilitarianism.
JS Mill being one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 19th century posits his view of the moral philosophy of utilitarianism.While cutting edge in its day / 150 years later we have had the benefit of dozens of additional philosophers of morality and political science.Stimulating to read for the concepts and examples.The average sentence consists of 8 dependent clauses and 100 words.While lengthy and complex arguments are offered / each is structurally sound.Outstanding reading that merits a solid A.It is highly recommended that you reread this book every decade or so to gain additional insights. ... Read more

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J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings, written by legendary author John Stuart Mill, is widely considered to be one of the greatest classic texts of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by John Stuart Mill is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. ... Read more

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A Reminder of the Importance of Liberty
Mill was well ahead of his time - and his writings are as on-point today as they were 135 years ago.Perhaps the greatest Libertarian, Mill railed against the subjugation of women, demanded equal rights and sufferage, and viewed the role of the state to be limited to those areas where the common good public safety or protection outweighed the needs for individual liberties.

It is hard to believe that it was LESS THAN 100 years ago - in 1920 - that women received the right to vote in the US by constitutional amendment.Writings like Mill's helped turn the tide and show the hypocrisy of a democracy that was not democratic.

A worthwhile read - if only to remind ouselves of the need for liberty and equality, and a great refresher that the rhetoric of government, politicians and societal traditions of "freedom and liberty" do not always translate into action.

Utility as the Ultimate Appeal on all Ethical Questions
1. Introduction
John Stuart Mill opens his first chapter by establishing the sole basis of his moral system: "I regard utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions; but it must be utility in the largest sense, grounded on the permanent interests of man as a progressive being" (¶ 11). His philosophy thus holds that actions are right in proportion to their tendency to promote happiness, and wrong in proportion to their tendency to promote unhappiness. Happiness is equivalent to pleasure and the absence of pain; unhappiness is equivalent to pain and the privation of pleasure. In this way, utilitarianism sets out a basic system to determine the morality of all actions, both private and public, individual and societal. On this basis, John Stuart Mill, in his essay On Liberty, sets out to define the proper limits of government and society on the freedom of the individual.

2. On Liberty
a. Liberty
John Stuart Mill opens his essay by defining the subject he will explore: "the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual" (¶ 1). This, he calls "Civil, or Social Liberty." The problem he will explore is the "struggle between Liberty and Authority," which is "the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar" (¶ 2). He explores the extent to which man's liberty may properly be checked by authority and he outlines the ways in which liberty is threatened by various tyrannies, such as the "tyranny of the political rulers" and the "tyranny of the majority" (social tyranny).
For Mill, liberty permits man to act as he wishes when no harm falls upon other people. It involves a series of rights and includes liberty of conscience, liberty of thought and feeling, freedom of opinion and sentiment, liberty of tastes and pursuits and of framing a plan of life to suit one's character, to do as one wishes in a way that does not harm others or impede from the exercise of this right by others, and freedom of association, with some limits (¶ 12).
Mill concludes that "the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection" (¶ 9). Accordingly, rulers are unable to use their power arbitrarily in a way that harms society. Social liberty was protected by obtaining "recognition of certain immunities, called political liberties or rights, which it was to be regarded as a breach of duty in the ruler to infringe," and also by establishing of a system of "constitutional checks" (¶ 2). With these two measures in place, the tyranny of rulers is checked.
However, limiting the power of government is insufficient to the end of guarding liberty. Mill then outlines a system for checking "social tyranny," for "Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself" (¶ 6). Mill lays out a series of rules of conduct, some of which are enacted by law, to offer protections within this scenario.

b. Tyranny
Mill's essay describes two threats to liberty: social tyranny, comprised of public opinion, as well as the tyranny of the public authorities. Society must be on its guard against the tyranny of the majority, which "was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities" (¶ 6). This tyranny manifests itself as a "social tyranny" whenever society executes "wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle" (¶ 5). Mill describes this tyranny as even more dangerous than the tyranny of rulers or magistrates, and calls for protections against society when it passes "its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them" (¶ 5).

The great defender of individual liberty
John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success.He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote.He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S.He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose.It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it.He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do.He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on.He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes.The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance.Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general.He was intensely educated by his father James.John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home.Dad thought environment was everything.He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing.He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work.He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic.He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis.His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other.Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.

Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism.It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness.Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized.I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians.Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality.Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians.Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain."What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures.He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures."These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have.So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use.His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc.His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics.The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also.It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks.Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure.He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.

"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work.It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty.He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle."It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom."That 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.His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant."These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry.In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate.Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness.He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves.Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles.This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily.For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others.Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others.Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children.Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage."In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..."Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe.Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.


There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives.He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press.He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important.Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures.How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures?Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned.Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about.That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.

Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species."Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief.But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.

I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.
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Essential Mill
Utilitarianism is Mill's most direct attempt to refine his inherited doctrine. Even more concise than On Liberty, this also essentially picks up where it left off, delving into the practical problem of how to deal with conflicting liberties. Mill retains the core utilitarian tenet that what brings the most happiness for the most people should be acted on - a very appealing doctrine in itself and put forth more palatably and persuasively than by the prior generation. However, utilitarianism's many critics will find little to convince them; however ideally attractive, many practical problems arise when issues such as relative happiness and harm turn up, as well as the thorny problem of how to enforce utilitarianism and punish transgressions. Mill makes some headway, covering nearly all conceivable ground in general principles but leaving much practical application unaddressed. It may be the most spirited utilitarianism defense ever but unfortunately is not complete, however admirable in many ways. That said, it is essential for anyone interested in Mill or utilitarianism.

Utilitarian philosophy explained
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism.He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive.Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori.Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about.Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong.However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles.Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong.Mill would disagree.Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example.In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying.A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain.This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration.Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure.Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is.Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality.Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains.So, they say that one of two things must be going on here.Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another.Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity.So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater.Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure.So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved.In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value.So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value.Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.




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It seems proper that I should prefix to the following biographical sketch some mention of the reasons which have made me think it desirable that I should leave behind me such a memorial of so uneventful a life as mine. I do not for a moment imagine that any part of what I have to relate can be interesting to the public as a narrative or as being connected with myself. But I have thought that in an age in which education and its improvement are the subject of more, if not of profounder, study than at any former period of English history, it may be useful that there should be some record of an education which was unusual and remarkable, and which, whatever else it may have done, has proved how much more than is commonly supposed may be taught, and well taught, in those early years which, in the common modes of what is called instruction, are little better than wasted. It has also seemed to me that in an age of transition in opinions, there may be somewhat both of interest and of benefit in noting the successive phases of any mind which was always pressing forward, equally ready to learn and to unlearn either from its own thoughts or from those of others. But a motive which weighs more with me than either of these, is a desire to make acknowledgment of the debts which my intellectual and moral development owes to other persons; some of them of recognised eminence, others less known than they deserve to be, and the one to whom most of all is due, one whom the world had no opportunity of knowing. The reader whom these things do not interest, has only himself to blame if he reads farther, and I do not desire any other indulgence from him than that of bearing in mind that for him these pages were not written.

I was born in London, on the 20th of May, 1806, and was the eldest son of James Mill, the author of the _History of British India_. My father, the son of a petty tradesman and (I believe) small farmer, at Northwater Bridge, in the county of Angus, was, when a boy, recommended by his abilities to the notice of Sir John Stuart, of Fettercairn, one of the Barons of the Exchequer in Scotland, and was, in consequence, sent to the University of Edinburgh, at the expense of a fund established by Lady Jane Stuart (the wife of Sir John Stuart) and some other ladies for educating young men for the Scottish Church. He there went through the usual course of study, and was licensed as a Preacher, but never followed the profession; having satisfied himself that he could not believe the doctrines of that or any other Church. For a few years he was a private tutor in various families in Scotland, among others that of the Marquis of Tweeddale, but ended by taking up his residence in London, and devoting himself to authorship. Nor had he any other means of support until 1819, when he obtained an appointment in the India House.


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From the editor's introduction:
(This is a trade paperback, published by The Library of Liberal Arts, Introduction by Currin V. Shields.)

"The Aubobiography is mainly Mill's account of his unusual intellectual training and achievements, and of his career as a writer and thinker.In this brief introduction there would be no point in relating what Mill tells in his own words.But some features of his life and character which are not fully treated in the Autobiography are of sufficient import to deserver our special attention.

On Mill's own testimony, as well as that of his friends and chroniclers, themost imprtant fact about Mill's life was his strong and lasting - and unconventional - attachment to Harriet Taylor.Thus Mill's life falls into three periods: before, during , and after his intimate association with Mrs. Taylor.
Before he met Harriet, John Stuart Mill was a brillant leader of a talented circle of younger Benthamites known as the "Philosopical Radicals". The group, intentionally patterned after the eighteeneth-century French school of Philosophes, was devoted to promoting Utilitarianism.Almost from the day of John's birth - May 20, 1806 - both his gifted father and his famous patron, Jeremy Bentham, had groome the young Mill to inherit the mantle fo the Benthamite movement...." ... Read more

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Nicholas Capaldi's biography of John Stuart Mill traces the ways in which Mill's many endeavors are related and explores the significance of his contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social and political philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of education. Capaldi shows how Mill was groomed for his life by both his father James Mill and Jeremy Bentham, the two most prominent philosophical radicals of the early 19th century. Mill, however, revolted against this education and developed friendships with both Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge who introduced him to Romanticism and political conservatism. A special feature of this biography is the attention devoted to Mill's relationship with Harriet Taylor. No one exerted a greater influence than the woman he was eventually to marry. Capaldi reveals just how deep her impact was on Mill's thinking about the emancipation of women.Nicholas Capaldi was until recently the McFarlin Endowed Professor of Philosophy and Research Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa. He is the founder and former Director of Legal Studies. His principal research and teaching interest is in public policy and its intersection with political science, philosophy, law, religion, and economics.He is the author of six books, including The Art of Description (Prometheus, 1987) and How to Win Every Argument (MJF Books, 1999), over fifty articles, and editor of six anthologies. He is a recent recipient of the Templeton Foundation Freedom Project Award. ... Read more

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Easily the Best Book on Mill
Contemporary analytic philosophers tend to present a rather skewed view of Mill, ignoring the larger textual and personal context of his work.Capaldi's book goes a long way to correcting these errors.

For instance, Capaldi provides strong reasons to think that Utilitarianism should be read in light of On Liberty, not vice versa, as contemporary textbooks tend to present Mill.In addition, Capaldi provides an in-depth examination of Mill's intellectual growth. He starts with Mill's early education and exposure to the philosophical radicalism of his father and Jeremy Bentham, and describes how Mill spent a large part of his life struggling to keep what he believed was good about their hedonistic utilitarianism while rejecting its inadequacies.Capaldi shows us how the style of education Mill received permanently influences Mill's manner of thinking.Capaldi demonstrates how Mill is essentially a dialectical thinker attempting to synthesize Romantic deontology with its emphasis on autonomous self-development, with empiricist ethical methodology with its emphasis on pleasure and associationist human psychology.At the same time, Capaldi illuminates the precise ways that figures like Carlyle, Hegel, Comte, Coleridge, and of course Harriot Taylor influenced Mill.Capaldi helps us learn how to read Mill, based on who Mill's audience was and the purpose of his various texts.One's view of Utilitarianism, for instance, will be radically changed in light of Capaldi's biography.This text, taken as the definitive statement of Mill's theory by most contemporary philosophers, emerges as a rather restrained attempt to defend a general class of philosophies, will Mill's own beliefs quite hidden under the surface.

The picture of Mill that emerges is that of a powerful mind with continually evolving ideas.For the typical philosopher who has read at most a few of Mill's works, this book is very valuable indeed.

As an aside, by way of illustrating what the reputation of Capaldi's intellectual biography is, let me relate the following.I recently had a paper defending a thesis of Mill's accepted for publication in a major philosophy journal.The reviewer asked me to make some revisions in light of this work.This book is quickly becoming the authoritative source on John Stuart Mill.In comparing Capaldi's work with that of others who have written on Mill, one gets the feeling that Capaldi is the only one taking Mill--and intellectual history--seriously.

As such, I highly recommend that any philosopher interested in ethics or the history of philosophy read this.

Capaldi on Mill
From the view of philosophy departments, Mill is frequently read as as figure in the line of traditional empiricists stretching from Locke to Russell. In that context, some of his teachings, such as the quality of pleasure and the primacy of social good seem like, well, mistakes. In fact, that's how it was presented to me in school and I'm afraid I may have passed that view on. I always wondered how a guy so smart could be so dumb. By bringing in the French connection (and Mill's intellectual environment in general), Capaldi presents the complete thinker. That's a service. Of course, given their format, no title in this series from Cambridge can be either a full scale biography or a full scale commentary. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Two Great Classics
This collects two of John Stuart Mill's best-known and most influential essays:On Liberty and The Subjection of Women. The main topics are different, but the essays fit to a greater or lesser extent the ambitious philosophical system outlined in Mill's A System of Logic. His life project was essentially to adapt the utilitarian moral/political philosophy inherited from Jeremy Bentham via his father James Mill to mid-Victorian social problems. This involved significant changes and substantial liberalizing, making Mill a classical liberalism exponent and strong forerunner of all subsequent liberal ideals and practices. Together and individually, the essays have had an immense impact on political, moral, philosophical, and economic thought. Reading them together is instructive and interesting. The writings are also held together by Mill's consistently lucid, smooth, and articulate style. This is a pleasant surprise given his fearsomely learned reputation. He relies almost exclusively on words the average reader understands, and his prose is remarkably readable a century and a half later, lacking the overblown floweriness and excessive stiltedness that now make much Victorian writing, especially non-fiction, insufferably dull.

On Liberty is a profound and engaging philosophical and practical defense of personal liberty, epitomized by the famous Harm Principle that all are free to do as they wish provided it does not harm others. It is the state's job to ensure the former right is upheld and the latter transgression punished. Mill's argument is very strong - convincing not only as an inherent right but also as a practical advantage to individuals and society. This is probably now his most famous work, and it is very easy to see why; his argument is not only compelling philosophically but widely applicable and, at about 140 pages, easily read by nearly all. Everyone from pure philosophers to political theorists to practical politicians to general readers can find something to like and learn.

The Subjection deals exclusively with a subject Mill had often raised before - female oppression. This classic essay is the culmination of an issue Mill had been passionately involved in since youth, when he was arrested for distributing literature about contraception. It is the most important, famous, and influential feminist text between Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, coming about halfway between them. That it was written by a man, one born to a substantial amount of privilege and who was around very few women until adulthood at that, is of course all the more incredible. Going well beyond his prior suffrage call, it pushes for nothing less than full equality, not even stopping at legal equality but valiantly trying to change thought and custom. Mill's suffrage arguments are numerous and near-irrefutable. He has the noble distinction of being the first MP to propose female suffrage - in the 1860s! He would surely be glad to know the substantial progress since made, however disappointed - if not surprised - he may have been to know it would take sixty years to be realized.

However, the vast majority of the essay deals with the rest of female oppression, a far more formidable barrier - one that, indeed, has sadly still not been fully crossed. The arguments are again very strong. Following a short historical overview of female oppression and a blunt survey of its then current forms, Mill proceeds to demolish its basis. In perhaps the most brilliant and admirable application of utilitarianism ever, he convincingly shows that female oppression is not only a great evil to women but also to men and all of society. He uses many examples and arguments to show that ending it is both a moral necessity and a prescription for many social ills. The many later advances have proven much of what he said, even if he was perhaps too optimistic in some respects. It is a sad comment on human progress that several of the ideals he passionately and articulately argued for, such as equality of intellect in marriage, are still uncommon and even scorned.

Though Subjection is admitted even by Mill's many detractors to be his argumentative tour de force, it has a few limitations. First, one of his main arguments is that Victorian - nay, all historical - assumptions about inherent differences between men and women, as well as the latter's inferiority, are premature because women had never existed in a state of social equality with men. This is certainly true as far as it goes - indeed, irrefutable at the time. Though he argues forcefully for equality in any situation, he does not even address the substantial question of what, if anything, should or must be done if inherent differences are found. This defect was then nothing more than abstract and, in fact, very subservient to the cause of advancing female rights. However, the near-equality women now have in developed countries means we must look at the issue somewhat differently. The question of inherent differences, much less relative superiority, is still far from answered - may indeed be even less clear. Even so, many of the issues Mill left unaddressed because moot are now very real, even pressing. They may leave his central arguments untouched - one would in fact be very hard-pressed to find a better argument for female equality anywhere -, but the essay is certainly more incomplete now, though still substantially valuable. Finally, though Mill's liberalism on the question is almost unbelievable for a man of his time and place, some of his statements and suggestions, not least his claim that the arrangement of man as breadwinner/woman as domestic engineer - to use the (I believe) currently politically correct term - probably is best after all, will rankle current feminists. To be fair, he does not say it prescriptively - indeed refrains from ruling anything out for women in any respect -, but Victorianism's ugly specter sneaking in even here is bound to disturb some. This of course hardly negates the rest, and The Subjection is still - and surely always will be - essential for anyone even remotely interested in women's struggle.

Anyone curious about Mill or any of these issues must read these essays.

The great defender of individual liberty
John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success.He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote.He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S.He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose.It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it.He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do.He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on.He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes.The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance.Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general.He was intensely educated by his father James.John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home.Dad thought environment was everything.He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing.He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work.He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic.He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis.His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other.Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.

Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism.It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness.Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized.I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians.Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality.Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians.Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain."What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures.He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures."These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have.So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use.His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc.His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics.The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also.It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks.Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure.He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.

"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work.It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty.He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle."It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom."That 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.His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant."These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry.In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate.Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness.He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves.Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles.This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily.For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others.Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others.Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children.Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage."In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..."Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe.Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.


There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives.He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press.He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important.Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures.How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures?Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned.Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about.That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.

Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species."Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief.But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.

I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.
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One of the most important nineteenth-century schools of thought, Utilitarianism propounds the view that the value or rightness of an action rests in how well it promotes the welfare of those affected by it, aiming for 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the movement's founder, as much a social reformer as a philosopher. His greatest interpreter, John Stuart Mill (1806-73), set out to humanize Bentham's pragmatic Utilitarianism by balancing the claims of reason and the imagination, individuality and social well-being in essays such as 'Bentham', 'Coleridge' and, above all, Utilitarianism. The works by Bentham and Mill collected in this volume show the creation and development of a system of ethics that has had an enduring influence on moral philosophy and legislative policy. ... Read more

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Still a classic after all these years
Mill's Utilitarianism is a very interesting and modern essay.It surely has endured the test of time so far and will continue to do so for many generations to come.

Utilitarian philosophy explained
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism.He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive.Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori.Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about.Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong.However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles.Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong.Mill would disagree.Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example.In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying.A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain.This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration.Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure.Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is.Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality.Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains.So, they say that one of two things must be going on here.Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another.Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity.So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater.Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure.So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved.In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value.So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value.Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.

The calculus of pleasure and pain is not enough
This is John Stuart Mill's restatement and qualification of the philosophical doctrine of' Utilitarianism'- the doctrine that the aim of Society is to produce the "greatest happiness for the greatest number".
The philosophy whose great inventor was Jeremy Bentham built itself upon the idea of a calculus of pleasures and pains, an almost mechanical measuring of feeling.
However the complexity, contradictory quality of our inner life suggest that any calculation of this type has a certain shallowness and illegitimacy about it.
In any case Mill's idea of utilitarianismdoes connect with his conception of Liberalism, and does have effect on his later thought even as he rejected most of it.

Dogmatism at its height.
Jeremy Bentham is the father of the doctrine called Utilitarianism, and John Stuart Mill (son of the second-rank philosopher James Mill and a kind of mouthpiece for Jeremy) is his most known disciple. «Utilitarianism and other Essays » presents the reader some of the most important and exciting excerpts texts written by the two thinkers, who, despite outwardly embracing the same doctrine, had to do a lot of theoretical gymnastics to accomodate each other points of view under the same ideological umbrella, thus demonstrating that sometimes the battle is fiercest, albeit muffled, inside than outside ideological headquarters. In hindsight , it seems that John Stuart Mill, who ran the rudders of the Economic doctrine of England until the 1860's, had some scores to settle with Jeremy, who was many years his senior and had ben, by some, the person behind the culturally sophisticated (although stripped of any emotional and religious overtones) education John received as a boy,learning Greek at 3, Latin at 8 and revising at 15 (in French) the first volume of the book « Democracy in America », by Tocqueville. The outcome of all this is that Mill developed a type of melancholic character who almost pushed him to the depths ofdepression, only rescued by his second marriage in his mid-life, when he embraced a lot of libertarian and anti-establishment proposals.
The writting styles of the two are blatantly different, James being the pragmatical dogmatist who accepted no exception to his utilitarian praecepts, Mill, on the contrary, the soft-minded scholar who diligently tried to mend the many defficiencies of a theory so rigidly framed and which was supposed to answer to all demands of human action. This dogmatism by Bentham, forced Mill later in life to abscond that doctrine, althoug never converting himself to any religion creed. Worthy of mention if the superb introduction by Alan Ryan, being a book on utilitarianism in itself.

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We propose then- to pass in review the main principles of M. Comte's philosophy; commencing with the great treatise by which- in this country- he is chiefly known- and postponing consideration of the writings of the last ten years of his life; except for the occasional illustration of detached points.' (Excerpt from Part I) ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This book combines John Stuart Mill’s key writings, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, and ‘Essay on Bentham’, with formative selections from Mill’s greatest influences, Jeremy Bentham and John Austin, and a discerning introduction written by the renowned ethics scholar Mary Warnock. This combination provides a thorough and perspicuous view of Mill's thought. An extensive bibliography of the best scholarship on Mill, Bentham, and Utilitarianism makes this book even more useful for students. This volume affords indispensable insight from – and into – one of the most profound and influential thinkers in Western philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Utilitarian philosophy explained
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism.He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive.Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori.Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about.Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong.However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles.Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong.Mill would disagree.Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example.In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying.A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain.This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration.Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure.Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is.Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality.Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains.So, they say that one of two things must be going on here.Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another.Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity.So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater.Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure.So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved.In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value.So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value.Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.

Utilitarian philosophy explained
I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy.Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England.Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism.He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive.Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori.Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about.Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong.However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles.Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong.Mill would disagree.Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example.In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying.A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain.This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration.Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure.Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is.Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality.Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains.So, they say that one of two things must be going on here.Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another.Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity.So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater.Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure.So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved.In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value.So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value.Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.




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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more