J.S. Mill

John Steward Mill was an English scholar and politician (1806-1873). He received his gifted education from his father, James Mill. He is known for his classical liberalism, classical economics, utilitarianism, and the early women’s liberation movement. At the same time, he had a complicated relationship with imperialism and socialism.

Life of John Stuart Mill

　John Stuart Mill was born in London, England, the eldest son of economist James Mill. From an early age, he was educated by his father to be gifted.

　Mill’s education for the gifted

　This education is so famous that it is anecdotal. By the age of 12, he had learned algebra and Euclidean geometry. He also studied calculus, logic, and the writings of classical antiquity.
　The method of education was to explore issues through dialogue and argumentation. The emphasis was on learning through dialogue, as in the writings of Plato.
　At the age of 15, Mill traveled to France, where he stayed for a year. He continued to pursue his studies, but did not attend college for the rest of his life.

Influence of Bentham

　His father Mill had become close friends with Bentham, the great exponent of utilitarian theory, and J.S. Mill also read Bentham’s writings and was greatly influenced by them. He was initially a Benthamist theorist.
　In 1823, J.S. Mill joined the British East India Company. In this company, he worked under his father Mill, who was his boss.

　As a scholar: a critic of utilitarianism

　In 1826, at the age of 20, Mill experienced a so-called spiritual crisis. He became very suspicious of Bentham’s utilitarianism, which he had always believed in. He therefore deepened his thought to revise it. However, he did not remain opposed to utilitarianism for the rest of his life.
　During this period, he was greatly influenced by Romantic poets such as Wordsworth. He was also influenced by the writings of literary scholar Goethe, philosopher Coleridge, and historian Carlyle.

The influence of Coleridge

　In 1838 and 1840, Mill wrote works on Bentham and Coleridge. By this time, Mill had developed a disposition to learn from his opponents, to balance and synthesize. This work was a manifestation of that very temperament.
　From Coleridge’s philosophy, Mill learned the importance of history and the diversity of circumstances. Its influence can be seen, for example, in Mill’s criticism of his father, John Mill.
　John Mill defended representative democracy under utilitarianism. In doing so, he used the deductive method. He offered a deductive explanation from the theoretical premise that humans have universal merit.
　However, J.S. Mill found this method problematic. This premise is not always true. It may not hold true in different times and places. The influence of Coleridge was seen in these criticisms. Mill adopted the inductive method as well as the deductive method.
　Around this time, Mill also worked as a journalist. He tried to support philosophical radicals with his journalistic activities.

　The 1840s

　In the 1840s, Mill published his major works. In his “A System of Logic,” he attempted to overcome Bentham in his use of deduction and induction. In his “Principles of Political Economy”, Mill criticized conventional classical economics.

　Mill came into contact with Carlyle, the sociologist Comte, and the historians Guizot and Tocqueville. Mill’s inadvertent burning of a manuscript of Carlyle’s work is a well-known incident. He distanced himself somewhat from Bentham’s utilitarianism and attempted to develop his own stance.

Encounter with Harriet Taylor

　Around 1830, Mill met and fell in love with his future wife, Harriet Taylor. At that point, Harriet was married. Harriet continued to maintain close contact with Mill until her husband’s death in 1849.
　In 1851, Mill married Harriet. The two engaged in many discussions. They planned to publish the results. But in 1858, Harriet died. Since she died while traveling in France, her remains were buried near Avignon. Mill himself settled in that area.

　Theorist of Liberalism: “On Liberty”

　In 1859, Mill published his “On Liberty”. This book is another of Mill’s major works and is known as a classic of liberalism. Mill credits Harriet with the creation of this book.

　In 1861, Mill continued to take a strong interest in politics, publishing “Considerations on Representative Government”.

The Theory of Utilitarianism

　In 1863, Mill published “Utilitarianism,” a reconsideration of Bentham’s theory of utilitarianism. To understand Mill’s characterization there, let us first review Bentham’s basic argument.
　Bentham presented utilitarianism as a principle of morality and legislation. Its motto is the so-called greatest happiness of the greatest number. In this theory, an action is right if it has a high tendency to promote happiness and wrong if it has a high tendency to produce unhappiness.
　Happiness means pleasure and the absence of pain. Unhappiness means pain and loss of pleasure. Therefore, actions that promote pleasure and the loss of pain are morally and politically right. It is required to promote a greater amount of pleasure for a greater number of people.
　At the time, Bentham’s theory was criticized as a doctrine worthy of pigs. It was argued that it was only appropriate for pig-like beings who only pursue pleasure and seek to avoid pain.
　Mill responded to this criticism with a theoretical renewal. He argued that there are both higher and lower levels of various pleasures. There are superior and inferior pleasures. Thus, he introduced a difference in quality into pleasure. As a result, the criterion for judging whether an action is good or bad is to take into account not only the quantity of pleasure but also its quality.
　What is higher pleasure? It is the kind of pleasure that would take precedence over lower-order pleasures, even when compared to a very large number of lower-order pleasures, if one were familiar with both higher-order and lower-order pleasures. Specifically, intellectual and other pleasures are assumed. It is better to be an unsatisfied Socrates than a satisfied pig.

　Relationship to Imperialism

　With “On Liberty” and other works, Mill became widely recognized as a classic theorist of liberalism. Liberalism defends the fundamental freedom of each person. Mill, however, has a different view of those areas that he himself considers to be uncivilized societies.
　As noted above, Mill, like his father, worked for the British East India Company. The East India Company operated in India and other colonies. Mill supported and legitimized these activities of the British Empire.
　Mill argues that. European civilization differs from the barbaric societies of India and other countries. Europe has had unparalleled success in its capacity for self-development and in its promotion of social cooperation. These advanced European civilizations should dominate the backward and barbaric India for the sake of its indigenous peoples. A tyrannical government is the appropriate formula for this, he said.

　Mill recommended liberal parliamentary democracy in Europe, as noted above. But in a “barbaric” society like India, this would not work properly, so he presented unilateral rule by a superior British government as appropriate.
　There is a caveat here, however. Mill did not believe that European civilization and non-European barbarism were based on race. If it were based on race, then non-Europe would remain barbaric forever and should be ruled by Europe forever. But Mill did not so argue.

　Rather, India should one day be autonomous and reach self-rule. The British government should allow India to grow so that it can become so. The present means of achieving this is suitable for tyrannical rule by the British government. But India will eventually come to rule itself.

　Relationship to Socialism

　There are mixed opinions about the relationship between Mill’s theory and socialism. On the one hand, aspects of Mill’s concern for the working class are pointed out. One example is the way in which workers’ wages were determined.

　At the time, the economist Ricard argued that the amount of wages depended on the amount of labor and the size of the employer’s capital. In this case, wages would rise when capital increases or the quantity of labor decreases.

　Mill initially accepted this theory, but later came to reject it. Instead, he argued that wage determination was part of the government’s authority. That is, he allowed the government to intervene in the labor market in such a way.
　On the other hand, Mill was skeptical of state intervention in the economic activities of individuals, even when workers and capitalists were in conflict. Classical economic liberalism promotes laissez-faire in economic activity. Mill is sometimes described as belonging to this position.

　Late Years: The Women’s Liberation Movement

　Beginning in 1865, Mill was elected to the House of Commons, and in 1867 she argued for women to be granted the same political rights as men.
　Mill was involved in the women’s liberation movement under the current of feminism in England at the time, especially under the influence of his late wife Harriet. Feminism had been on the rise in England since the 1840s.

　In 1851, Harriet published the book “The Emancipation of Women” and became one of the leaders of this movement. Mill was also influenced by these activities of Harriet and her human charm, and believed that society should be changed so that women could play as active a role as men.
　In 1869, Mill published “The Subjection of Women”. This criticized the practice of discrimination against women from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, like many feminists, Mill associated the current state of women with slavery and used the rhetoric of emancipation to call for women’s liberation.
　Mill criticized traditional ideas about the nature and sphere of women. She argued that the exclusion of women, as has been the case in the past, would result in various disadvantages for men, who are the “masters” of women. Mill argued that it is detrimental to society for women to be subjugated as they have been.

　He further argued that each person has the right to productive and attractive work regardless of gender. Therefore, it is unjust to confine women to a few domestic jobs, as has been the case in the past.
　The Subjugation of Women immediately became a bestseller in Europe. It was translated into French, German, Italian, Russian, and other languages. The book’s ideas were not universally accepted, however.
　In his later years, Mill also corresponded with the entomologist Fabre. He died in 1873.

Recommended References

関口正司『J・S・ミル : 自由を探究した思想家』中央公論新社, 2023

菊川忠夫『J.S.ミル』清水書院, 2015

Warren Breckman(ed.), The Cambridge history of modern European thought, Cambridge University Press, 2021

Gareth Stedman Jones(ed.), The Cambridge history of nineteenth-century political thought, Cambridge University Press, 2013