John Stuart Mill: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:05, 2 November 2010

1806-1873. British philosopher, economist and political theorist.

He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in the tradition of Jeremy Bentham's utilitarianism. He started to teach him Greek and Latin when his son was only four years old as well as differential calculus at the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart Mill wrote his first book, at fifteen he wrote newspaper articles, studied Roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the Utilitarian Society.

But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown at the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worse when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory. Mill refused to study at the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company until 1858. In 1851 he married Harriet Taylor. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died in 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote. Important works of John Stuart Mill are A System of Logic (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19th century and at last his work Utilitarianism (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.

Sources

Gaulke, Jürgen. John Stuart Mill. Reinbek: Rowolt, 1996.

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, Der Utilitarismus. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2008.

http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mill,+John+Stuart/Biographie

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 -1873. British philosopher, economist and political theorist.
-He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in the tradition of Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism. He started to teach him Greek and Latin when his son was only four years old as well as differential calculus at the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart Mill wrote his first book, at fifteen he wrote newspaper articles, studied Roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the Utilitarian Society.
+He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in the tradition of [[Jeremy Bentham]]'s [[utilitarianism]]. He started to teach him Greek and Latin when his son was only four years old as well as differential calculus at the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart Mill wrote his first book, at fifteen he wrote newspaper articles, studied Roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the Utilitarian Society.
 But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown at the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worse when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory.
-Mill refused to study at the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company  until 1858. In 1851 he married Harriet Taylor. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died in 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
+Mill refused to study at the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company  until 1858. In 1851 he married [[Harriet Taylor]]. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died in 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
 Important works of John Stuart Mill are ''A System of Logic'' (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, ''Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy'' (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19th century and at last his work ''Utilitarianism'' (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.