Father: James Mill (philosopher).
Mother: Harriet Barrow (m. 1805).
Wife: Harriet Taylor (m. Apr 1851, d. Nov 1858).
Daughter: Helen Taylor (stepdaughter).
Date of Birth: 20 May 1806.
Birth Place: Pentonville, London, England.
Date of Death: 8 May 1873 (aged 66).
Death Place: Avignon, France.
Cause of Death: Erysipelas.
Remains: Buried, Cimetière de St. Véran, Avignon, France.
Remains: Buried, Cimetière de St. Véran, Avignon, France.
Religion: Agnostic.
Race or Ethnicity: White.
Education: University College London, Faculté des Sciences.
Occupation: Philosopher, Economist, Essayist.
Region: Western Philosophy.
Nationality: England.
Notable Ideas: Public/private sphere, Hierarchy of pleasures in Utilitarianism, Liberalism, Early liberal feminism, harm principle.
Influenced By: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Aquinas, Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Bentham, Smith, Ricardo, Tocqueville, Goethe, Coleridge, Auguste Comte, Saint-Simon, Wordsworth.
Major Writings: A System of Logic (1843), The logic of the moral sciences (1843), On Liberty (1859), Utilitarianism (1867), The Subjection of Women (1869), Autobiography of John Stuart Mill.
British philosopher, political economist, essayist and civil servant
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) is considered the most
influential English-speaking philosopher of the 19th century. He is best
known for his writings on logic and scientific method and for his many
essays which are related to social and political life. John Stuart Mill
was also a Member of Parliament and a distinct figure in liberal
political philosophy. He was the godfather to the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Early Life & Childhood: John Stuart Mill was born in Pentonville, London, England. His father, James Mill
was a philosopher, historian and economist and his mother named Harriet
Barrow. His education started at home with his father. At the age of 8,
he began studying Latin and algebra. At 12 years old, John studied
the works of Euclid, Aristotle, Plato, Herodotus, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Hobbes, David Ricardo and Adam Smith.
In 1820, he was sent to France. From May 1820 to July 1821 he was in
France in the family of Sir Samuel Bentham and his brother of Jeremy
Bentham. John was especially impressed by the work of Jeremy Bentham.
At 17, he became a member of a discussion group called the Utilitarian
Society and began to write articles in the Westminster Review. In 1826,
John suffered from a serious nervous breakdown. Soon his depression
started fading with the reading of the poetry of William Wordsworth. During this time he was introduced to the founder of positivism and sociology, Auguste Comte.
Personal Life: In 1830 John Stuart Mill became a close friend of Harriet Taylor. Taylor
was also attracted to John because she had met the first man who
treated her as an intellectual equal. After 21 years of intimate
friendship, the couple married in 1851. Taylor had a great influence on
John’s ideas and work. Harriet Taylor died after seven years of their
marriage in 1858.
Later Life & Death: In 1832, Jeremy Bentham
died and John became intellectual freedom. He used that freedom to
create a new philosophic radicalism incorporating the ideas of thinkers
such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle. In 1834 John founded the Radical journal and two years later purchased the Westminster Review.
He used the journal to support his desired politicians. A few days later,
John refused to study at the University of Oxford or the University of
Cambridge and went with his father to work for East India Company. He
worked for the company till 1858. In 1856, he was elected a Foreign
Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1858,
he attended University College, London. In 1866, elected the first
person in Parliament to advocate women’s right to vote. John Stuart Mill died on 8 May 1873 and was buried at Cimetière de St. Véran in Avignon, France.
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