John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill
1873 portrait by George Frederic Watts
Member of Parliament for City of Westminster
In office 25 July 1865 – 17 November 1868 Serving with Robert Grosvenor
Preceded by	De Lacy Evans
Succeeded by	William Henry Smith
Personal details
Born	(1806-05-20)20 May 1806 Pentonville, Middlesex, England
Died	8 May 1873(1873-05-08) (aged 66) Avignon, Vaucluse, France
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Harriet Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1851; died 1858)​
Parents	James Mill (father) Harriet Barrow (mother)
Alma mater	University College London
Philosophy career
Era	19th-century philosophy Classical economics
Region	Western philosophy
School	Empiricism Utilitarianism Consequentialism Psychologism Classical liberalism
Main interests	Economics ethics logic politics
Notable ideas	Public/private sphere social liberty hierarchy of pleasures in utilitarianism rule utilitarianism classical liberalism early liberal feminism harm principle Mill's Methods direct reference theory Millian theory of proper names emergentism
Signature

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873)^[1] was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical 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.^[3]

Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. 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.^[4]

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 1832.^[5][6]