John stuart mills biography

John stuart mill quotes

John Stuart Mill 20 May — 7 May [ 1 ] was an English philosopher, political economist , politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism , he contributed widely to social theory , political theory , and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century" by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , [ 2 ] he conceived of liberty as justifying the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.

The Columbia Encyclopedia 5th ed. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology , though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell , John Herschel , and Auguste Comte , and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. He engaged in written debate with Whewell.

A member of the Liberal Party and author of the early feminist work The Subjection of Women , Mill was also the second Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage after Henry Hunt in John Stuart Mill was born at 13 Rodney Street in Pentonville , then on the edge of the capital and now in central London , the eldest son of Harriet Barrow and the Scottish philosopher , historian, and economist James Mill.

John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism , had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham had died.

Mill was a notably precocious child.