Class Notes 4 You

In the nineteenth century, John Stuart Mill was an activist and political thinker in Britain. He was one of the most ardent supporters of and practitioners of utilitarianism, a school of thought that held that an action was only considered appropriate if it benefited the majority of society. In his essay "On Liberty," he insists vehemently that the protection of one's freedom of thought regardless of how heinous or moral and, by extension, one's freedom to express oneself based on that thought are crucial to the upkeep of individual liberty. The concept of freedom of speech and thought proposed by Stuart Mill: The Law of Harm: This holds that the state is only permitted to restrict an individual's freedom for the purpose of preventing that individual from causing harm to others. Mill aims to demonstrate that society should never arbitrarily suppress opinions. Expression freedom: He gave four justifications for the need for freedom of speech, even for those who ho...

One of the most influential thinkers in the fields of economics, ethics, human rights, and liberty is J.S. Mill. Given his work "On the Subjection of Women," in which he advocates for women's education and "perfect equality," Mill is also cited as an early feminist. When it came to the issue of women, Mill applied the principles of liberalism to the issue and advocated for improving their position by providing them with opportunities for employment, suffrage, and education. He thought of this as a problem that affected everyone, not just women. In his book "On the Subjection of Women," he argued that society should be organized on the basis of "reason" rather than "accident of birth" principles like sex. Plant held that human person is completely a result of childhood, as opposed to the consequence of one's natural sex. Mill was most concerned about equality as a constitutional right. Mill believed that marriage was comparable...

J S Mill Intro: it is said that if anybody is liberal, it is Mill. Context: during 18th century industrial revo thinkers like Locke and Adam smith gave the idea to free people and market from central authority. But no one could give a comprehensive idea of liberty as freedom on oneself and from society like mill in his book on liberty. On reviving utilitarianism: Classical liberalism/utilitarianism  postulated utility as the core value of liberalism Mill was inspired from Alexis de Tocqueville in understanding the sociological limitations of utilitarianism that lacked in human values Bentham had perverted the idea of liberalism by establishing utilitarianism as the core philosophy of liberalism. It was majoritarian and went against the categorical imperative of Kant.   Utilitarianism resulted in exploitation of workers and increased socio economic inequality Thomas Carlyle described it as a “pig’s philosophy.” Mill revised it and placed liberty as core idea of liberalism. It i...