|
 Philosopher
of the Month
January
2001 - J.
S. Mill
Peter
Holmes
John
Stuart Mill (1806-1873) wrote an Autobiography (1873) which
set out what he wished to be remembered about his life. The point
from this book which is most commonly remarked upon concerns his
prodigious early capacity for learning, best shown by studying,
under his father's tuition, Ancient Greek from the age of three.
When it is considered that his first set-text was Aesop's Fables,
this seems a bit less eccentric than might at first be thought.
But soon after Aesop there was much more solid work, and by the
time he was 13 he was reading the first five dialogues of Plato
- in the original. Mill's own comment on this is that it shows that
what he achieved in terms of intellectual development, anyone else
of average intelligence could achieve, given the same high-powered
education. Such a statement may, of course, not have been anything
more than false modesty, but there is some evidence that he believed
it, or half of it.
Mill's
first great philosophical work, which he says in the Autobiography
would probably be one of his most enduring, was the System
of Logic (1843), which defends the position that all knowledge
derives from experience, either directly or by the inferences we
draw from this experience. Mill argued against the idea that some
knowledge was, as it were, self-supporting and did not depend on
the senses for its existence of justification. He extended this
view to mathematics, a field where self-supporting knowledge was
– and is – sometimes held particularly to exist, but he
was also thinking of religion, and the social and political views
sometimes, especially in his day, drawn from revelation. So, if
all knowledge is derived from experience and the inferences we draw
from it, it might help to explain how it could be that every average
individual is able to achieve as much as J S Mill, since every individual
is subject to similar influences. At least it shows the value of
education. In the System of Logic, Mill’s belief in
fallibility is also clearly sketched: the inferences drawn by induction
are never founded on necessity. Every average individual is perfectible,
as far as fallibility will allow. He was distrustful of logical
necessity, but perhaps surprisingly in the Logic he came
down on the side of Necessity or Determinism, rather than Free Will,
although in the process argued the controversy more or less out
of existence. He believed that the social and moral sciences would
progress so far that in the end human actions would be so well understood
that it would be possible to predict accurately what a combination
of circumstances would produce in terms of response from a given
individual.
Mill
wrote a great deal on a tremendous range of subjects, but is best
known for his three ethical and political books, published towards
the end of his life: Utilitarianism (1863), On Liberty
(1859), and On Representative Government (1861). Mill's teacher-father,
James, had instilled in his son the ideas of Benthamite Utilitarianism,
the principle of the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
As the young Mill grew older, he inevitably reacted against his
father's teaching (the most poignant passages in the Autobiography
describe how he suffered a period of depression in early manhood
as he was beginning to escape from the hot-house of his father's
influence), but in the end like a good son was unwilling to abandon
Bentham, the great guide of James Mill. What he did do, was to enlarge
the scope of Utilitarianism considerably, arguing for a qualitative
element to be added to the quantitative calculations of the Principle
of Utility. The point now was to maximise the greatest happiness
of the greatest number, but also the higher pleasures of the greatest
number; higher pleasures being the intellectual rather than carnal
ones. Mill has been accused of elitism in this, but as will be recalled
he believed (subject to fallibility) in the perfectibility of all
the average and above. He hoped that most people would, after sufficient
instruction, naturally prefer poetry to ten-pin bowling. But Mill
was still worried about the 'tyranny of the majority', which he
felt Utilitarianism committed him to. In Representative Government,
Mill, therefore, advocated proportional representation, plural
voting, and a literacy test for the franchise, in order to reduce
the influence of the below average.
In
On Liberty, all these themes come together. The scope of
Utilitarianism must now include liberty. Complete freedom to express
ourselves will enable fallible humans to live with our fallibility
and to progress to what perfection it is possible to achieve in
a world where there is no logical necessity. Freedom of action is
essential for the moral development of individuals, but this development
is also impossible if individuals do not live securely in communities.
Hence the famous Harm Principle, which says that the only reason
liberty may be interfered with is in order to prevent harm to others.
Mill's
work is not without its inconsistencies: liberty, equality and fraternity
do not work together as easily as Mill tries to maintain. His idea
of Progress, taken from Condorcet, the French philosopher, could
easily be criticised, and seems to lead him astray. But it is difficult
to be harsh on a philosopher whose instincts on so many things were
so sound, and whose daring in the field of thought was so great.
Modern commentators are increasingly sympathetic to Mill, and his
stock as a philosopher now stands very high.
Suggested
reading:
The
Autobiography and On Liberty are both published by
Penguin.
Utilitarianism and Representative Government are available
in Everyman.
Recommended commentaries include Alan Ryan, The Philosophy of
John Stuart Mill;
William Thomas, Mill (Pastmasters);
F R Berger, Happiness, Justice and Freedom;
Wendy Donner The Liberal Self.
A
new philosopher of the month will be featured from February 1st
2001
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