John Stuart Mill - A Man Ahead of His Time Quiz

Answer: James Mill

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was the eldest son of James Mill and Harriet Burrow. James Mill (1773-1836), as well as being a philosopher, was an economist and historian, and had great ambitions for his son. The younger Mill was kept away from other children and was encouraged only to work, not play.

He was taught Greek from the age of 3 and Latin from the age of 8. He was clearly a naturally intelligent child, and in combination with his father's strict educational regime, John Stuart Mill became a tour de force on several subjects at an early age. James Mill had the intention of building a genius, believing that such men were not born, but created.

The concept that human beings are not born with built-in mental content is called "tabula rasa" (literally "blank slate"), and was an idea perhaps most famously promoted by John Locke.

Answer: The East India Company

The East India Company was set up to trade with the East Indies in several valuable commodities, such as silk. As the power of the British Empire grew, so did the East India Company, and it eventually came to rule much of the Indian subcontinent. The position of Chief Examiner had been held previously by Mill's father James, as well as by the English poet Thomas Love Peacock. John Stuart Mill was promoted to this position in 1856, just a year before the rebellion which would eventually cause the dissolution of the company.

Answer: The poetry of Wordsworth

Upon arriving in France, Mill stayed with Samuel Bentham. Samuel Bentham was the brother of Jeremy Bentham - a close friend of James Mill who had also assisted in the education the young John Stuart Mill. The younger Mill suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of 20, and himself recognised this as a by-product of the rigorous education from his father (and Bentham), who had nourished his mind, but neglected his feelings and his capacity for emotion. By socialising with thinkers such as Auguste Comte, Gustave d'Eichtahl, and John Sterling, Mill renewed his belief in the value of his own work, expanded his thinking on the subject of social politics, and most importantly overcame his depression.

He is also said to have taken great joy in the poetry of William Wordsworth during this time, providing him pleasures which were denied to him in his childhood.

Answer: Harriet Taylor

When Mill met Harriet Taylor in 1830, she was married and this would remain the state of affairs for most of the next two decades. Curiously, Taylor's husband was aware and accepting of the (strictly platonic) relationship between her and Mill. Mill and Mrs Taylor remained close friends for many years until they decided to marry, two years after the death of Taylor's husband.

It is clear from the writings of John Stuart Mill that he loved Harriet Taylor and considered her a great inspiration for his later work.

When she died in 1858, Mill insisted on spending half the year in Avignon where she was buried. In 1873, Mill died in Avignon and was buried next to her.

Answer: Empiricism

Empiricists hold that all knowledge is derived from sensory perception. They stand in contrast to the Rationalists who believed that all knowledge is derived from the mind. Mill was educated from an early age by his father who, like John Locke, believed that the human brain was born with no pre-programmed knowledge (a concept called "tabula rasa"). It is through experience that people learn about the world. For example, seeing people get burned by fire (or being burned yourself) will allow you to accurately predict what is going to happen to you if you get too close to an open flame.

The Rationalists are also distinct from the Idealists. While the latter claim that no reality exists outside of what is being sensed/observed, the former claim that no reality exists outside of what we *can* sense/observe. For example, a tree that is not being observed by any person, according to the original and staunch view of the Idealists, does not exist. Rationalists, however, believe that the ability of the tree to be sensed/observed is sufficient basis for its reality, regardless of whether or not it is being observed at that point in time.

Answer: Utilitarianism

The concept of Utilitarianism is that, when faced with a selection of choices of how to act, the choice must be made according to which action will bring about the greatest happiness to the greatest number. A major problem with this concept is that it is vague. John Stuart Mill attempted to remedy this weakness of Utilitarianism by distinguishing between different types of pleasure.

He viewed intellectual and moral pleasures as more important than physical pleasures. While Mill may have been attempting to improve upon Bentham's Utilitarianism, he arguably just added another level of complexity to it. Such complexity and subjectivity - for example, whose happiness should be taken into consideration? And should the happiness of everyone involved carry the same weight? - have led many to claim that Utilitarianism is impractical as a moral guide.

Answer: On Liberty

Mill's views on individual liberty are fairly straightforward. He thought that individual freedom was of great importance and that the state should have minimal interference with the lives of individuals. Only when an individual's actions pose a threat to the well-being of others should the state intervene. This (some would say) over-simplistic analysis is dangerous. How individual actions affect others is not black and white. Though an action may not cause harm to others directly, it may be naïve to think that such actions cannot have more long-lasting and far-reaching consequences in society. Other critics of Mill may also feel that his views promote unsavoury individual selfishness of individuals. Mill conceded that exceptions must be made. For example, children and those who are not mentally sound should not be granted this freedom as he did not consider them to be capable of self-government.

"On Liberty" was published in 1859 and a copy is traditionally passed to the President of the British Liberal Democrats as a sign of their presidency.

Answer: Feminism

Mill's "The Subjection of Women" was an article published in 1869 which supported equal rights for women in society. Mill viewed women as being "shackled" by convention to the role of house-keeper, and he disagreed with his father that it was "unnecessary" to grant women the vote. While the older Mill viewed the man's vote as representing the thoughts of the household, the younger Mill recognised that female political interests may differ from the male's. Indeed, during his brief spell in the House of Commons, John Stuart Mill pushed for female suffrage.

Moreover, when he married Harriet Taylor, he gave her a signed document disclaiming any rights over her person and her property and income.

Mill's liberalism manifested itself as both "freedom to..." (e.g. freedom to do whatever one pleased, as long as it did not cause harm to others, as he described in his "On Liberty"), as well as "freedom from..." (e.g. freedom from political (and other types of) oppression, as seen in his support of feminism, as well as his opposition to slavery).

Answer: False

In Mill's "On Liberty", he stated that an individual should be free to do as he pleases unless his actions cause harm to others. He was careful in drawing the distinction between harm and offence. He saw no reason why someone getting offended should limit freedom of speech, and he defended this point vociferously. Mill gave two reasons for this. Firstly, he believed that limiting freedom of speech in the fear of causing offence would be a slippery slope, leading to the eventual abandonment of individual freedom. Secondly, he believed that even those who presented offensive and ill-informed opinions should be allowed freedom of speech, since they would be more likely to revise their opinions if challenged by more informed individuals.

Moreover, on this second point, by arguing against these ill-informed opinions, those individuals who are more informed will become even better informed.

Answer: Inductive reasoning

Another way of describing this is "the Scientific Method". This involves using evidence (derived from our senses) to come to a generalised statement with the aim of establishing a scientific law. For example, if A always follows B, it may be concluded, through inductive reasoning, that A causes B. The more examples of A causing B that are found, the more likely this generalisation is to be true. However, Mill recognised that a key feature of the Scientific Method was that theories must be falsifiable in order to be meaningful. For example, it must be recognised that if even a single example was found of B not following A, this law, however well-established, would have to be revised. This logical and objective approach to handling evidence was outlined by Mill in his 1843 work, "A System of Logic".

Mill's views on this subject differed in some respects from those of William Whewell. Whewell believed that the ability of a hypothesis to explain a phenomenon was sufficient grounds for accepting it. Whilst Mill accepted that no generalisations reached upon analysis of evidence were infallible (as discussed above), there needed to be sufficient evidence to support it in order for it to be accepted, rather than simply accepting the hypothesis because it *could* be used to explain a specific phenomenon.