John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a British philosopher, political economist, and influential writer, best known for his works on liberty, utilitarianism, and social theory. His most famous work, "On Liberty" (1859), advocates for individual freedom and limited government intervention, arguing that people should be free to act as they wish unless they harm others. Mill's "Utilitarianism" (1863) further developed the ethical theory of utilitarianism, emphasizing the greatest happiness principle as the foundation of moral decision-making.

Author's Books:


CHAPTER I. The object of this Essay is to explain as clearly as I am able, the grounds of an opinion which I have held from the very earliest period when I had formed any opinions at all on social or political matters, and which, instead of being weakened or modified, has been constantly growing stronger by the progress of reflection and the experience of life: That the principle which regulates the... more...

CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS.There are few circumstances among those which make up the present condition of human knowledge, more unlike what might have been expected, or more significant of the backward state in which speculation on the most important subjects still lingers, than the little progress which has been made in the decision of the controversy respecting the criterion of right and wrong. From... more...

ESSAY I. Of the truths with which political economy has been enriched by Mr. Ricardo, none has contributed more to give to that branch of knowledge the comparatively precise and scientific character which it at present bears, than the more accurate analysis which he performed of the nature of the advantage which nations derive from a mutual interchange of their productions. Previously to his time, the... more...

CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 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... more...

THE COURS DE PHILOSOPHIE POSITIVE. For some time much has been said, in England and on the Continent, concerning "Positivism" and "the Positive Philosophy." Those phrases, which during the life of the eminent thinker who introduced them had made their way into no writings or discussions but those of his very few direct disciples, have emerged from the depths and manifested themselves on... more...