Mill, John Stuart (1806–1873)

John Stuart Mill was a prolific writer of articles on many topics and also wrote several treatises. His System of Logic was an exposition on inductive reasoning, the theory of scientific knowledge. Principles of Political Economy applied his utilitarian ideas to economics. On Liberty carried forward the work of John Locke, David Hume, Auguste Comte, and others, and Representative Government explored the theoretical issues involved in the translation of the popular will into public policy through elected representatives. He carried forward the thinking of Jeremy Bentham in Utilitarianism, departing from Bentham in significant ways in an attempt to make utilitarianism more realistic and applicable to real-world political and legal issues and traditions that embodied the [Page 956]historical experience of people. He was a fervent liberal political reformer, and in The Subjection of Women he advocated equality for women.

John Stuart Mill was brought up by his father in Bentham's philosophy of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism was an attempt to make all decisions in morality, politics, and law by evaluating the comparative utility, or usefulness, of the alternatives to the good of society. It is sometimes summarized as seeking the greatest good for the greatest number. Besides Bentham, a major influence on Mill were the writings of the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Mill's principle of utility is today embedded in most of what we do in science, business, and government: The selection of the most useful scientific theory, risk-benefit analysis, game theory, business accounting, investment analysis, public policy analysis, and the setting of legal penalties to deter undesirable behavior are most often formulated in utilitarian terms. Utilitarianism represented the dream of making morals and politics scientific, with the morality of an action based on its consequences and the ability to predict them, rather than on motive or process.

Mill acknowledged that the strongest criticism of utilitarianism was the nonconsequentialist argument that morality is not based on consequences of actions, as utilitarians held, but is instead based on the foundational and universal concept of justice. He therefore tried to explain the concept of justice in terms of utility. He argued, first, that all moral elements in the notion of justice depend on social utility and that there are two such elements: punishment and the perceived violation of someone's rights. Punishment in turn derives from a combination of vengeance and social sympathy. Vengeance has no moral component, and social sympathy is equivalent to social utility. Rights are claims one has on society to protect one, and the only reason society should protect one is because of social utility. Thus, both elements of justice, punishment and rights, are based on utility. Mill's second argument was that if justice were foundational, then justice would not be as ambiguous as it is, the evidence for which are the disputes in the notion of justice when examining theories of punishment, fair distribution of wealth, and fair taxation. These disputes can only be resolved, Mill argued, by appealing to utility. Mill concludes that justice is a genuine concept, but we must see it as based on utility.

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