John Stuart Mill

“If the caliber of writers is to be judged by their effect on policy, Mill must rank high. As logician, economist and political philosopher he was regarded as a prophet in his own age.” (John Bowle)

Introduction:
John Stuart Mill was born on May 20, 1806 in London. He was the eldest son of his father James Mill who was the disciple of Bentham. J. S. Mill started the learning of Greek language at the age of three and then Latin at the age of eight. As a young boy of twelve, he had studied the philosophy of some of the great philosophers, such as Plato, Herodotus, Homer, Aristotle and Thucydides. He also learned French language and acquired a great fluency.

Mill was trained by his father and by John Austin. He was greatly influenced by Bentham’s utilitarian philosophy and his programmes for reformation. But with the passage pf time, many of the evils against which the early utilitarian had been working hard, had ceased to exist and Benthamism began yielding before other philosophic systems. The biological speculations of Darwin and Spencer and the sociological researches of Auguste Comte stirred the passionate seekers of learning and knowledge with the initiation of new currents of thought and Mill was also influenced by them. He modified Bentham from ethical, sociological, psychological, economic and political points of views.

The year of 1856 was a year of tribulations and chaos on account of Indian freedom fighters and formidable aggressions of foreign masters. History of India was written with Indian blood and in this crucial period of life and death, Mill served the East India Company as an Examiner of Indian Correspondence. In 1858 he retired. Then he became the radical member of the Parliament and remained almost in the limbo of oblivion. Mill died on 8th May, 1873 at Avignon.

He wrote following books:

1. A system of Logic
2. Some unsettled questions in Political Economy
3. Essay on Liberty
4. Consideration on Re-tentative Government
5. Utilitarianism
6. Thoughts on Parliamentary reforms
7. Subjection of Women
8. Principles of Political Economy
9. On the improvement of Administration of India during the last 30 Years (1858)

Importance of J. S. Mill in the History of Political Thought

J. S. Mill sought after vivid ideas with the ardency of a mystic, the patience and arduous industry of a man of science. He encountered opponents with magnanimity and generosity. In praise of his immortal ideas which will ever echo in the corridors of time, it has been said, “No calculus can integrate the innumerable pulses of knowledge and of thought that he had made to vibrate in the minds of generation.”

Mill was the great prophet of sane Individualism or Liberalism. He insisted upon the importance of human progress in its richest variety. He was one of the stoutest champions of individual liberty. When we turn the pages of antiquity, Plato distinctively appears to be the first feminist, passionately advocating the cause of women to take part in the functions of the government. J. S. Mill too was a great feminist and he practically pleaded their causes in the parliament. He firmly believed for equality of women for the benefit and uplift of the state. Mill’s impact of Feminism obviously appeared in the early 20th century when the Feminist Movement fought for women freedom for participating in the functions of the state.

Mill was one of the foremost individualists of all times. He ranked with Rousseau, Jefferson and Milton as an ardent crusader of individual liberty. He humanized utilitarian philosophy. He was a staunch enemy of despotism and monocracy and a great supporter of democracy. He combined political liberalism with economic socialism and approval of a common ownership in the raw materials of the globe and an equal participation of all in the benefits of the combined labor. Mill’s political philosophy contains following important facts:

1. His theory of liberty was his most important contribution to the history of political philosophy.

2. He favored democracy as the best form of government as a result of adult franchise.

3. He supported universal suffrage granting the right of voting to women also, with a system of proportional system.

4. He opposed the secret ballot because it led to favoritism and corruption and vigorously proposed for open ballot system.

5. He recommended a second chamber. He believed that the final legislative authority should rest with the House of Commons, but at the same time he assigned the task of drafting bills, before they come to the parliament for consideration to the House of Lords.

6. Mill’s method was analytic. He believed that study of history combined with a knowledge of human nature and a careful analysis of political phenomenon would result in a gauging of tendencies of great value to legislators and statesmen.

7. Bentham thought of quantitative pleasures. Mill believed in qualitative pleasures. He drew a distinction between several kinds of pleasures, considering some as higher while others as lower.

Prof. Sabine said, “Mill’s ethics was important for liberalism because in effect it abandoned egoism, assumed that social welfare is a matter of concern to all men of goodwill, and regarded freedom, integrity, self-respect and personal distinction as intrinsic goods apart from their contribution to happiness.”