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John
Stuart Mill
Born: May 20, 1804 London,
England
Died: 1873 - Avignon |
Famous For:
Early in his
life, Mill known for having formed a Utilitarian Society.
Later he was know for his ideas and writings on the System of Logic
which added the theory of inductive proof to the current ideas on
terms, propositions and syllogism.
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Humanist Idea:
Utilitarianism -
According to Mill
there were two types of moral theories: intuitive (without appeal to
experience) and inductive (based on experience and
observation). Mill came up with the "Highest Normative
Principle: - Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness: wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness." Happiness is meant as intellectual pleasures
as well as sensual pleasures. To him the principle of Utility
was used to assess the consequences of actions but not the motives
or character traits behind those actions.
Logic
- Most of Mill's reputation
was for his analysis of inductive proof. The empirical
sciences used his set of formula and criteria provided more precise
arguments with references to questions of proof or evidence.
He developed five methods of induction: the method of agreement, of
difference, double method of agreement and difference, of residues
and of concomitant variations. The common thread of all these
methods was elimination. "We deduce the law or cause of a
complex effect from the laws of separate causes whose concurrence
give rise to it.
Religion
-
Mill applied his ideas of
Utilitarianism and Logic to the question of Religion. He says
"In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or
imprisoned for doing to one another, are nature's every day
performances" (Essays on Religion,
p28).
"Let is be remembered that if individual life is
short, the life of the human species is not short; it's definite
duration is practically equivalent to endlessness; and being
combined with indefinite capability of improvement, it offers to the
imagination and sympathies a large enough object to satisfy any
reasonable demand for grandeur of inspiration. (ibid p 106)
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Noted Sayings:
"If all mankind minus one
were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion,
mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he,
if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." (On Liberty (1859) ch 2)
"The individual is not accountable to society for his
actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but
himself." (On Liberty(1859) ch 5)
"Ask yourself whether you are
happy, and you cease to be so." (Autobiography (1893) ch 5)
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