Prof. Mark Tunick tunick@fau.edu

J.S. Mill

1. Life
   • Childhood and early education: like father like son
   • Young adult: self-education; the 'utilitarian society'.
   • Mental crisis. Age 20, asks himself: "Suppose that[a]ll the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy?... [A]n irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, 'No!' At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down." (Autobiography, p. 81)
   • Coming out of the crisis; remainder of life
   • Mill and the East India Company
     
2. Key Themes in Mill’s Work
   • Mill's rationalism
   • Mill's psychology: no essential human nature
   • Mill's utilitarianism
     • James Mill's U: social, not egoistic
     • John Stuart Mill's U
       1. non-hedonistic
       2. Break with Bentham's theory of motivation
   • Mill's imperialism: his idea of civilization and progress
   • Mill's commitment to liberty
     • consequentialist argument for liberty
     • rights-based argument: liberty as intrinsic value
   • Mill's commitment to a classical liberal (minimal) state
     • The Harm principle: the state may legitimately use coercion (punish) only to prevent individuals from harming others unjustifiably.
     • Justification for harm principle?
     • Does the harm principle apply to the uncivilized?
3. Mill as a tolerant imperialist?
   
4. Mill and the problem of culture clash
   
5. Other topics (time permitting)
   1. Mill's theory of representation
      • Rejects rule by philosopher-kings
        1. We might expect him to endorse philosopher-kings
        2. But Mill insists on what Hegel calls 'subjectivity': "If a person possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and experience, his own mode of laying out his existence is the best, not because it is the best in itself, but because it is his own mode”(On Liberty).
      • Mill on representative government
      1. Overview: A consequentialist justification for participatory representation
      2. Limited role of the representative body
      3. Mill on the extension of suffrage
   2. Mill's Socialism