Is He or Isn’t He? Locating John Stuart Mill in Ninetee nth Centur y Philosophy By Ellen Melville This paper was written for History 416: Nineteenth Century German and European Intellectual History‚ taught by Professor Scott Spector in Fall 2008. John Stuart Mill‚ son of the noted British philosopher James Mill‚ is routinely grouped with Jeremy Bentham as one of the great Utilitarian thinkers of the nineteenth century. He was devoted to preserving and expanding liberty‚ along with promoting a
Premium John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism Liberalism
In the political work On Liberty‚ John Stuart Mill forms an argument in support of the freedom of speech and explains in detail why silencing an opinion is wrong. He does this by exploring the ways that silencing an individual’s opinion in a variety of situations harms society‚ whether the opinion silenced is true or false. In The Second Treatise of Government‚ John Locke explains his views on political philosophy but never explicitly states a clear view on free speech‚ it does allude to an attitude
Premium Political philosophy Liberty Freedom of speech
The basic moral principle of utilitarianism is called the principle of utility or the greatest happiness principle. As John Stuart Mill explained it “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness‚ wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. It focuses on the consequences of action. Utilitarian believe that pleasure or happiness is the good to be produced. As Bentham put it “Nature has placed mankind under the governance
Premium Utilitarianism Ethics Hedonism
Second Writing Assignment‚ PHILO 120 Professor Shelley‚ Tue/Thur 230pm Mill is an heir of an intellectual movement in England known as Utilitarianism; utilitarianism is concerned with the acquisition of pleasure and elimination of pain. John Stuart Mill follows the guidelines of utilitarianism in order to decide if certain actions are moral. Utilitarianism states that a person should perform the action that produces the most pleasurable outcome for every person involved. In order to accurately
Premium Utilitarianism Ethics John Stuart Mill
making the revolter an outcast. John Mill was a strong proponent of individualism‚ stressed the importance of an eccentric life and believed that unique people are necessary for prosperity. “Human nature is not a machine to be built as a model‚ and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it‚ but a tree‚ which requires growth and development” (On Liberty‚ 105). Mill describes in On Liberty that
Premium Political philosophy Liberalism Sociology
John Mill is a British philosopher‚ has been called the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the 19th century (John Mill Biography). John Mill published his on liberty book in 1859‚ In "On Liberty" book by John Mill he discussed and he debated the concept of personal liberty‚ and the limitation of the discussion (On Liberty book‚ pg iii‚iv‚ and the cover page). In this book John Mills discussed very important points which are The Struggle between Liberty and Authority‚ Tyranny of the
Premium Islam Truth John Stuart Mill
Prompt 1 Two criticisms of utilitarianism influence Mill towards rule-utilitarianism. The first criticism involves objectors viewing this philosophy as encouraging society to do what is expedient for the moment (22). The second objection proposes “that there is not time‚ previous to action‚ for calculating and weighing the effects of any line of conduct on the general happiness” (23). Mill argues both of these objections by taking rule-utilitarianism into consideration. Rule- utilitarianism states
Free Morality Human Gain
The convoluted writings of John Stuart Mill can be translated into simple terms as follows: No moral act or rule is intrinsically right or wrong. Rather‚ the rightness or wrongness of an act or rule is solely a matter of the overall nonmoral good (pleasure‚ happiness‚ health‚ knowledge
Premium Death Ethics
“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” said Oliver Wendell Holmes‚ Jr.‚ the former justice of the American Supreme Court. This famous analogy articulates the scope of liberty suggested by John Stuart Mill and his ‘one very simple principle.’ As the very basis to support his arguments about liberty and its limit‚ the principle strenuously insists as follows. The only justification for exercising coercive force over an individual is when his actions would otherwise harm
Premium Political philosophy Liberty John Stuart Mill
ethical codes. Morals and ethics is‚ of course‚ a subject that runs deep in the discussion of philosophy. People are faced with moral dilemmas everyday‚ which many times society decides without thoroughly exploring their options. Immanuel Kant‚ John Stuart Mill‚ Plato‚ and Aristotle are philosophers that focus on the topic of ethics‚ yet all have different outlooks. Kant is considered a non-consequentiality‚ which means he feels the intentions motives‚ and good will is more important than
Premium Ethics Morality Virtue