John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806 - May 8, 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed greatly to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher in the nineteenth century", Mill's concept of freedom justifies individual freedom in opposition to an infinite state and social control.
Mill is a supporter of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor, Jeremy Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, although his knowledge of this topic was based on the writings of others, especially William Whewell, John Herschel and Auguste Comte, and research conducted for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill was involved in a written debate with Whewell.
A member of the Liberal Party, he is also the first Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage.
Video John Stuart Mill
Biography
John Stuart Mill was born at 13 Rodney Street in Pentonville, Middlesex, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and Harriet Burrow. John Stuart was educated by his father, with advice and assistance Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. She was given very strict parenting, and was intentionally protected from relationships with children her age other than her siblings. His father, Bentham's followers and adherents of association, had an explicit purpose for creating a genius intelligence that would lead to the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham died.
Mill is a very precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography. At the age of three he was taught Greek. At the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon Anabasis, and all Herodotus, and became acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes La'o'tius, Isocrates and six dialogues from Plato. He has also read much history in English and has taught arithmetic, physics, and astronomy.
At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin, Euclid's works, and algebra, and was appointed headmaster for younger children of the family. The main reading is still in history, but he studied all the Latin and Greek writers who were taught in general and at the age of ten could read Plato and Demosthenes easily. Her father also thought it was important for Mill to study and write poetry. One of the earliest poetic compositions of the Mill is the continuation of the Iliad. In his spare time he also enjoyed reading about natural science and popular novels, such as Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe .
His father's work, English History of India was published in 1818; soon after, around the age of twelve, Mill began his thorough study of scholastic logic, at the same time reading Aristotle's logical treatises in the original. The following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo with his father, who ultimately completed their classical economic view of the factors of production. Mill's
At the age of fourteen, Mill stayed a year in France with the family of Sir Samuel Bentham, brother of Jeremy Bentham. The mountain scenery he saw led to a lifetime sense of the mountain landscape. The living and friendly French way of life also left a deep impression on him. In Montpellier, he attended winter courses in chemistry, zoology, logic from the FacultÃÆ'Â Â © des Sciences , and took a higher mathematics course. When coming and going from France, he stayed in Paris for a few days at the home of the famous economist Jean-Baptiste Say, a friend of Mill's father. There he met with many Liberal party leaders, as well as other famous Parisians, including Henri Saint-Simon.
Mill experienced sadness for several months and contemplated suicide at the age of twenty. According to the opening paragraph of Chapter V's autobiography, he asked himself whether the creation of a just society, the purpose of his life, would really make him happy. His heart replied "no", and not surprisingly he lost the joy of striving towards this goal. Finally, William Wordsworth's poem shows him that beauty produces compassion for others and stimulates joy. [2] With new joy he continues to work toward a just society, but with more enjoyment of travel. He considered this one of the most important shifts in his thinking. In fact, many of the differences between him and his father come from this expanded source of joy.
Mill has been involved in pen friendship with Auguste Comte, the founder of positivism and sociology, since Mill first contacted Comte in November 1841. Comte's sociologie is more of an early philosophy of science than we know. today, and positive philosophy help Mill's vast rejection of Benthamism.
As a nonconformist who refuses to subscribe to the Thirty Nine Church Church Article, Mill is not eligible to study at Oxford University or Cambridge University. Instead, he followed his father to work at the East India Company, and attended University College, London, to hear John Austin's lectures, the first Professor of Jurisprudence. He was elected an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1856.
Mill's career as a colonial administrator in the British East India Company stretches from the time he was 17 years old in 1823 to 1858, when the Company was removed for direct rule by the British crown of India. In 1836, he was promoted to the Political Department of the Company, where he was responsible for correspondence relating to the Company's relations with the prince countries, and in 1856, was eventually promoted to the position of the Indian Correspondence Tester. In In the Freedom , Multiple Words of Non-Intervention , and other works, Mill defends British imperialism by stating that there is a fundamental difference between civilized and barbaric societies. Mill views countries like India and China as ever progressive, but that is now stagnant and barbaric, thus legitimizing British rule as a kindly despotism, "as long as the end is [barbarian] improvement." When the crown proposed to take direct control of the colonies in India, he was assigned to retain the Company's powers, wrote a Memorandum of Improvement in the Indian Administration for the Last Thirty Years among other petitions. He was offered a seat on the Council of India, the body created to advise the Secretary of State for India, but refused, citing his disapproval of the new system of government.
In 1851, Mill married Harriet Taylor after 21 years of intimate friendship. Taylor was married when they met, and their relationship was close but generally believed to be sacred for years before her first husband died. Brilliant in itself, Taylor is a significant influence on Mill's work and ideas during friendship and marriage. His relationship with Harriet Taylor reinforced Mill's defense of women's rights. He quoted his influence in his latest revision of On Liberty, published shortly after his death. Taylor died in 1858 after experiencing severe lung congestion, after only seven years of marriage to Mill.
Between 1865 and 1868 Mill served as Lord Rector of the University of St.. Andrews. During the same period, 1865-68, he was a Member of Parliament for the City and Westminster. He sits for the Liberal Party. During his time as a member of parliament, Mill advocated reducing the burden in Ireland. In 1866, Mill became the first person in the history of Parliament to call for women to be given the right to vote, vigorously defending this position in the ensuing debate. Mill became a strong supporter of social reforms such as unions and agricultural cooperatives. Under Representative Governance Considerations Mill calls for parliamentary reforms and voting, in particular proportional representation, a single transferable vote, and the extension of suffrage. In April 1868, the favored Mill in a Commons debated the retention of the death penalty for crimes such as exacerbated killings; he called the abolition of "civility in the common mind of the state."
He is the godfather of philosopher Bertrand Russell.
In his view of religion, Mill is agnostic.
Mill died in 1873 from erysipelas in Avignon, France, where his body was buried beside his wife.
Maps John Stuart Mill
Work
Logic System
Mill joined the debate over the scientific method followed by John Herschel's publication in 1830 on Early Discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy, which incorporated inductive reasoning from the known to the unknown, found common law in specific facts. and verify this law empirically. William Whewell expanded this in his 1837 Historical Science of Inductive, from the Beginning to the Present followed in 1840 by The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Established After Their History , presenting induction as a concept that escapes the mind to the facts. Law is a self-evident truth, which can be known without the need for empirical verification. Mill replied to this in 1843 under the Logic, Ratification and Inductive System, Being a Connected View of the Proof Principle, and the Method of Scientific Inquiry. In the Mill Method of induction, such as Herschel, the law is found through observation and induction, and empirical verification is required.
The theory of freedom
Mill's On Liberty addresses the nature and limits of power that can be legitimately exercised by society over individuals. Yet Mill is clear that his attention to freedom does not extend to all individuals and all societies. He declared that "Despotism is the legitimate way of government in dealing with barbarians".
Mill states that it is acceptable to harm yourself as long as the person doing it does not harm others. He also argued that individuals should be prevented from perpetrating the immortal, serious damage to themselves or their property by the principle of danger. Because no one is in isolation, self-destructive damage can also harm others, and destroying property will rob people and themselves. Mill forgave those who were "incapable of self-government" of this principle, such as young people or those living in "the backward country of society".
Although this principle is clear, there are a number of complications. For example, Mill explicitly states that "harming" may include omissions and commission actions. So failing to save a drowning child is considered a dangerous act, such as failing to pay taxes, or failing to appear as a witness in court. All such malicious omissions can be arranged, according to Mill. On the contrary, it is not counted as harmful to a person if - without coercion or fraud - the consent of the affected individual to bear the risk: so one can offer unsafe employment to others, provided there is no fraud involved. (Mill, however, recognizes one boundary to agree: the public should not allow people to sell themselves into slavery). In these and other cases it is important to remember that the arguments in On Liberty are based on the principle of Utility, and not on appeal to natural rights.
The question of what is considered a selfish act and what action, whether negligence or commission, is a dangerous act that is subject to the rules, continues to use Mill's interpreter. It is important to stress that Mill does not consider giving offenses a "loss"; an act can not be restricted for violating a particular community convention or morals.
On Liberty involves defending freedom of speech. Mill argues that free discourse is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress. We can never be sure, he argues, that silenced opinion does not contain the element of truth. He also argues that letting people express the wrong opinion is productive for two reasons. First, individuals are more likely to abandon false beliefs if they engage in open exchange of ideas. Secondly, by forcing others to reexamine and reaffirm their belief in the process of debate, these beliefs are kept from degenerating into mere dogmas. It is not enough for Mill to have only untested beliefs that are just right; we must understand why the belief in question is true. Along the same lines, Mill wrote, "the immeasurable impulse, used on the side of prevailing opinions, actually prevents people from expressing contradictory opinions, and from listening to those who express it."
Social freedom and tyranny of the majority
Mill believes that "the struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most striking feature in the history section". For him, freedom in ancient times was a "contest... between subjects, or some classes of subjects, and government." Mill defines "social freedom" as protection from the "tyranny of political rulers". He introduced a number of different concepts of the form of tyranny can take, called the social tyranny, and the tyranny of the majority.
Social freedom for Mill means to impose limits on the powers of the ruler so that he will not be able to exercise his power over his own will and make decisions that could harm society; in other words, one must have the right to have a voice in government decisions. He says that social freedom is "the nature and limits of power that can be legitimately done by society over individuals". This is tried in two ways: first, by gaining recognition of certain immunities, called political or right freedom; second, by establishing a system of "constitutional checks".
However, in the Mill's view, limiting the power of government is not enough. He states, "The community can and do its own mandate: and if he issues the wrong mandate and not the right, or any mandate in matters that should not interfere, he practices more severe social tyranny than many kinds of political oppression, , though usually not enforced by such extreme punishments, he leaves less of a means of escape, penetrating deeper into the details of life, and enslaving the soul himself. "
Liberty
John Stuart Mill's view of freedom, influenced by Joseph Priestley and Josiah Warren, is that the individual must be free to do what he wants unless he hurts others. Individuals are rational enough to make decisions about their well-being. The government must intervene at that time to protect the public. Mill explains:
The only purpose in which human beings are justified, individually or collectively, in interfering with the freedom of action of any of their numbers, is self-protection. That the only goal in which power can legally be exercised over any member of a civilized society, contrary to his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, whether physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He can not be forced to do or restrain himself because it would be better for him to do so, because it would make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even true... The only part of his behavior anyone, for whom he can accept society, is a matter of others. In part that only concerns him, his independence is, the right, the absolute. More than himself, above his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
Freedom of speech
As a supporter of freedom of speech, Mill objected to censorship. He says:
I chose, with the preference of the most unfavorable cases to me - where the arguments against freedom of expression, whether on truth or utility, are considered the strongest. Let the affirmed opinion be God's and future beliefs, or the generally accepted doctrine of morality... But I must be allowed to observe that it is not a certainty of a doctrine (well what is possible) that I call the infallibility assumption. This is an attempt to decide the question for others, without letting them hear what can be said on the other side. And I denounce and condemn this pretension, no less if it is put on the side of my most serious belief. However, anybody's positive persuasion may be, not only from the faculty but from the damaging consequences, but (to adopt an expression that I totally condemn) immorality and impolite opinions. - but if, in pursuit of personal judgment, though supported by the public judgment of his country or his contemporaries, he prevents that opinion from being heard in his defense, he considers infallibility. And so far from an unfair or less dangerous assumption because that opinion is called immoral or uncivilized, this is the case of all the other most fatal.
Mill outlines the benefits of 'seeking and finding the truth' as ​​a way of further knowledge. He argues that even if the opinion is wrong, the truth can be better understood by refuting the error. And since most opinions are not entirely true or completely false, it shows that allowing freedom of expression allows the viewing of competing views as a way of maintaining partial truth in various opinions. Worried about the views of suppressed minorities, Mill also argues to support freedom of speech on the basis of politics, arguing that it is an essential component for the representative government to have to empower the debate over public policy. Mill also eloquently states that freedom of expression enables personal growth and self-realization. He said that freedom of speech is a vital way to develop talent and realize the potential and creativity of a person. He repeatedly says that eccentricity is preferred over uniformity and stagnation.
Harm Principle
The belief that freedom of speech promotes society is shaped by the belief of the public's ability to filter. If there is a completely wrong or dangerous argument, the public will judge it wrong or dangerous, and then the argument is untenable and will be excluded. Mill argues that even the arguments used to justify murder or rebellion against the government should not be politically repressed or socially persecuted. According to him, if rebellion is necessary, people must rebel; if the killing really is right, it should be allowed. However, the way to express the argument must be public speech or writing, not in a way that causes real harm to others. This is a danger principle.
That the only purpose in which power can be legally enforced over every civil society member, contrary to his will, is to prevent harm to others.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Young Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. create a standard "clear and existing danger" based on Mill's idea. In the opinion of the majority, Holmes writes:
The question in each case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and its like to create a clear danger and now that they will carry the substantive crime that Congress has a right to prevent.
Shouting "Fire!" in the dark theater, which makes people panic and make them hurt, is the case. But if the situation allows people to self-argue and decide to accept it or not, any argument or theology should not be blocked.
Today, Mill's argument is generally accepted by many democratic countries, and they have a law on the principle of loss. For example, in American law, some exceptions limit freedom of speech such as obscenity, defamation, breach of peace, and "fights of words".
Colonialism
Mill, an employee for the British East India Company from 1823 to 1858, contends to support what he calls 'good despotism' with respect to the colonies. Mill argues that "To assume that the same international customs, and the same rules of international morality, can be obtained between one civilized nation with another, and between a civilized and barbarian nation, is a big mistake.... To characterize any behavior against savage as a violation of state law, only shows that he who speaks never consider the subject. "
Slavery
In 1850, Mill sent an anonymous letter (later known as The Negro Question), as a rebuttal to Thomas Carlyle's anonymous letter to Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country in which Carlyle argued for slavery. Mill supported abolition in the United States.
In the essay of Mill from 1869, "The Subjection of Women", he stated his opposition to slavery:
This is really extreme from the law of force, which is condemned by those who can tolerate almost any other form of arbitrary power, and which, of all others, presents the most revolting features for the feelings of all who see it from a position that is not siding is a civilized and Christian English law in the memory of the people who are now living: and in the American half Angle-Saxons three or four years ago, not only slavery existed, but slave trade, and slave breeding firmly for it, is a common practice among slave countries. Yet there is not only a greater force of sentiment towards it, but, at least in the UK, fewer amounts of feelings or interests support it, than any other abuse of indigenous violence: because the motive is love of profit, not mixed and not disguised: and those who benefit from it are very small numerical fragments in the country, while the natural feeling of all those who are not personally interested in them, is unmitigated hatred.
Women's rights
Mill's view of history is that until the time of "all women" and "mostly sex men" is merely "slaves." He contradicts the opposite argument, arguing that the relationship between the sexes is only "subordinate the law of one gender to another - the fault itself, and is now one of the major hurdles for human improvement, and that it should be replaced by the principle of perfect equality. "With this, Mill can be regarded as the earliest male supporter of gender equality. His book The Subjection of Women (1861, published 1869) is one of the earliest written about this by a male author. In The Subjection of Women Mill tries to make the case for perfect equality. He talks about the role of women in marriage and how it needs to be changed. There, Mill commented on the three main aspects of women's lives that he felt were in their way: society and gender, education, and marriage constructions. He argues that the oppression of women is one of the few remaining relics of ancient times, a set of prejudices that severely hinder the progress of mankind.
Utilitarianism
The canonical statements of Mill utilitarianism can be found in Utilitarianism . This philosophy has a long tradition, although the Mill account is mainly influenced by Jeremy Bentham and Mill Mill's father of Mill.
The famous form of utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham is known as "the greatest principle of happiness". He argues that one must always act to produce the greatest aggregate happiness among all sentient beings, for reasons. In the same vein, Mill's method of determining the best utility is that the moral agent, when given the choice between two or more actions, must choose the act that contributes most (maximize) the total happiness in the world. Happiness in this context is understood as the production of pleasure or the privacy of pain. Given that determining actions that produce utility is at least always so clear, Mill suggests that utilitarian moral agents, while trying to determine the usefulness of different acts, should refer to the common experience of people. That is, if people generally experience more happiness after action X than they do action Y, the utilitarian must conclude that the action of X yields more benefits than, and thus profitable, acts Y.
Utilitarianism is built on the basis of consequentialism, that is, the means are justified only on the basis of the results of those actions. The overriding goal of utilitarianism - the ideal consequence - is to achieve "the greatest good for the greatest number as the final outcome of human action". Mill states in his writings on Utilitarianism that "happiness is the only end of human action." This statement brings a bit of controversy, which is why Mill took it a step further, explaining how human nature wants happiness, and who "thinks it makes sense under free consideration", demands that happiness is desirable. In other words, free will makes everyone do actions that tend to their own happiness, unless reasoned that it will increase the happiness of others, in which case, the greatest utility will still be achieved. So far, the utilitarianism described by Mill is the default lifestyle he believes is what people who have not studied a particular ethical field will be natural and will unconsciously be used when faced with decisions. Utilitarianism is considered by some of its activists to be a more thorough and comprehensive ethical theory of Kant's belief in goodwill, and not just some of the innate cognitive processes of man. Where Kant argues that reason can only be used well by good will, Mill will say that the only way to create a universally just law and system is to step back to its consequence, where Kant's ethical theory becomes based around the good the best.. By this logic, the only legitimate way to understand what is the right reason is to look at the consequences of any action and weigh the good and bad, even on the surface, ethical reasoning seems to suggest different ideas. A
Mill's main contribution to utilitarianism is his argument for the separation of qualitative pleasures. Bentham treats all forms of happiness as equals, whereas Mill argues that intellectual and moral pleasure (higher pleasure) is superior to the form of physical pleasure (lower pleasure). Mill distinguishes between happiness and contentment, claiming that the former is of higher value than the latter, confidence calmly packed in the assertion that "it is better to be a dissatisfied human rather than a satisfied pig, it is better that Socrates is dissatisfied than a satisfied fool. if the fool, or the pig, have a different opinion, it's because they only know their own side of the question. "
Mill defines the difference between higher and lower forms of pleasure with the principle that those who have experienced both tend to prefer others. This is, perhaps, directly contrary to Bentham's statement that "The same amount of fun, pin-push is as good as poetry", that, if a child's simple play like hopscotch causes more pleasure for more people than a night at home opera, it it is more important for people to devote more resources to spreading hopscotch than running opera houses. The Mill argument is that "simple pleasures" tend to be favored by people who have no experience with high art, and are therefore in no position to judge. Mill also argues that those who, for example, are noble philosophy or practice, benefit the society more than those engaged in individualist practice for pleasure, which is a form of lower happiness. This is not the greatest happiness of the agent itself which means "but the greatest amount of happiness at all".
Mill separated his explanation of Utilitarianism into five different parts; General Statement, What Utilitarianism, From the Main Sanctions Principle of Utility, From What Type of Evidence Principles Utility Vulnerable, and the Relationship between Justice and Utility. In the General Description section of his essay he talks about how in addition no progress has been made when it comes to judging what is right and what is wrong from morality and if there is such a thing as a moral instinct (which he argues that there might not be). But he agrees that in general "our moral faculty, according to all its interpreters who are entitled to the name of thinkers, only gives us the general principles of moral judgment". In the second chapter of his essay he no longer focuses on background information but utilitarianism itself. He defines this theory by saying that pleasure and pain are the only things that are inherently good in the world and extend them by saying that "action is right proportional because they tend to promote happiness, wrong because they tends to produce the opposite of happiness, with happiness is the pleasure of destination, and the absence of pain, by unhappiness, pain, and privacy of pleasure. "He sees it not as an animalistic concept because he sees pleasure seeking as a means of using higher facilities. He also said in this chapter that the principle of happiness is not only based on individuals but especially on society.
In the next chapter, he focuses more on the specifications of Utilitarianism when he writes about self-sanction. He states that a person has two sanctions; internal sanctions and external sanctions. According to Mill, internal sanctions are "feelings in our own minds, pain, more or less intense, officers for breach of duty, which correctly develops increased moral qualities, in more serious cases, shrinks from it as impossible." Abbreviations, it basically just explains that your internal sanctions are your conscience. External sanctions he says are "hope of goodness and fear of displeasure, of our fellow beings or of the Ruler of the Universe." It states that external sanctions are almost a form of fear of God himself. Sanctions are mentioned because according to Mill internal sanctions are what captures the concept of Utilitarianism and what makes people want to accept Utilitarianism.
In the fourth chapter of Mill, he talks about the affected Utility evidence. He started this chapter by saying that all his claims can not be supported by reasoning. He claims that the only evidence that something brings pleasure is if one finds it pleasurable. Next he talks about how morality is the basic way to achieve happiness. He also discusses in this chapter that Utilitarianism is beneficial to virtue. He says that "maintaining not only the virtue is desirable, but that it is desirable undesirable, for itself." In his last chapter Mill saw and connected Utilitarianism and justice. He pondered the question of whether justice is something different from Utility or not. He reasoned this question in several different ways and finally came to the conclusion that in certain cases justice is essential for Utility, but in others the social task is far more important than justice. Mill believes that "justice must give way to other moral principles, but that what is only in ordinary cases is, for reasons other principles, not just in certain cases."
The qualitative report on happiness made by Mill proponents explains the account presented at On Liberty . As Mill suggested in the text, utility must be understood in relation to humanity "as a progressive being," which includes the development and exercise of rational capacity as we seek to attain a "higher mode of existence". Rejection of censorship and paternalism is intended to provide the necessary social conditions for the greatest achievement of knowledge and ability for the greatest number to develop and train their deliberative and rational capacity.
Mill defines the definition of happiness as; "the ultimate goal, for which all other things desired (whether we consider our own goodness or others) are as free as possible from pain and as rich as possible in pleasure". He firmly believes that moral rules and obligations can be referred to promote happiness, which connects with a noble character. While John Stuart Mill is neither a standard act nor a utilitarian rule, he is a minimizing utilitarian, who "asserts that it would be desirable to maximize happiness for the greatest number but not that we are not morally necessary to do it ".
Mill Thesis differentiates between higher and lower pleasure. He often discusses the importance of recognizing higher pleasures. "To assume that life has (as they express it) no higher than pleasure - there is no better and nobler object and desire that they call meaningful and worshiping, as a doctrine that is only proper for pigs." When he says pleasure is higher, he means pleasure that accesses the higher abilities and capacities of man such as intellectual prosperity, while lower pleasure will mean physical or temporary pleasure. "But it must be admitted that when utilitarian authors say that mental pleasure is better than those physically they have based on mental pleasure to be more permanent, safer, cheaper and so on - that is from their profound gains than from its intrinsic nature." All of these factors are the definition of John Mill's own utilitarianism, and show why it is different from other definitions.
Economic philosophy
Mill's initial economic philosophy is one of the free markets. However, he receives intervention in the economy, such as taxes on alcohol, if there is an adequate utilitarian basis. He also accepted the principle of legislative intervention for animal welfare purposes. Mill initially believed that "equality of taxation" meant "the equivalent of sacrifice" and that progressive taxation punishes those who work harder and save more and therefore "mild forms of robbery".
Given the same tax rate regardless of income, Mill agrees that inheritance should be taxed. The utilitarian society would agree that everyone should be one way or another. Therefore, accepting an inheritance will place one in front of the community unless taxed on inheritance. Those who donate should carefully consider and choose where their money goes - some charities are more deserving than others. Considering a public charity council like the government will withdraw the same money. However, a personal charity such as a church will dilute money fairly to those who are more in need than others.
Then he changed his view to a more socialist one, adding his chapters to his Political Economy Principles to defend socialist views, and defend some socialist causes. In this revised work he also made a radical proposal that the entire wage system be wiped out for the wage system of the cooperative. Nevertheless, some of his views on the idea of ​​taxation remain, albeit modified in the third edition of the Political Economic Principles to reflect the attention to differentiating restrictions on "unearned", favored, and "earnings" income, which he did not like.
Mill's Principles , first published in 1848, is one of the most widely read of all books on economics in that period. As Adam Smith Wealth of Nations did during the preceding period, Mill's Economic democracy
Mill promotes economic democracy rather than capitalism, by substituting capitalist business with workers' co-operatives. He says:
The form of association, however, which if human beings continue to increase, should be expected in the end to dominate, is not that what can exist between the capitalist as the chief of the tribe, and the worker-man without voice in management, but the association of the workers themselves in terms of equality, collectively have the capital they use in their operations, and work under managers who are selected and released by themselves.
Political democracy
Mill's great work on political democracy, Considerations on Representative Governance, defends two basic principles, wide participation by citizens and the competence of enlightened rulers. Both values ​​are clear in tension, and some readers conclude that he is an elitist democrat, while others consider him to be a participative democrat before him. In one section he apparently maintains multiple elections, in which more competent citizens are given additional votes (views which he then rejects). But in Chapter 3 he presents what is still one of the most eloquent cases for the value of participation of all citizens. He believes that the inability of the masses can finally be overcome if they are given the opportunity to take part in politics, especially at the local level.
Mill is one of the few political philosophers who once served in government as an elected official. In three years in Parliament, he is more willing to compromise than the "radical" principles expressed in his writings will lead people to expect.
Environment
Mill demonstrates the preliminary view of the value of the natural world - particularly in Book IV, chapter VI of the Political Economy Principle: "From a Stationary State" in which Mill recognizes wealth beyond matter, and argues that the logical conclusion of growth without limits is the destruction of the environment and the deterioration of the quality of life. He concluded that a stationary state could be more favored than endless economic growth:
Therefore, I can not assume the stationary state of capital and wealth with an unaffected aversion that is generally manifested in its direction by the political economists of the old school.
If the earth had to lose most of its owed pleasure on the things that an unlimited increase in wealth and population would destroy it, for its sole purpose enabled it to support a larger population, but not a better or happier one, I sincerely hope , for the sake of posterity, that they will be content to be stationary, long before the necessity of forcing them to it.
Economic development
Mill considers economic development as a function of land, labor and capital. While land and labor are the two original factors of production, capital is "stock, the previous accumulation of the former products of labor." Increased wealth is only possible if land and capital help increase production faster than the labor force. It is productive work that is productive of wealth and capital accumulation. "The rate of capital accumulation is a function of the proportion of labor used productively, the profit gained by employing unproductive labor is the transfer of income, unproductive labor produces no wealth or income". It is a productive worker who engages in productive consumption. Productive consumption is that "that sustains and enhances the people's productive capacity." This implies that productive consumption is the input necessary to maintain a productive worker.
Population growth control
Mill supports Malthus population theory. By population, he means the number of working classes alone. He is therefore concerned about the growing number of workers employed for hire. He believes that population control is crucial to improving working class conditions so that they can enjoy the fruit of technological advances and capital accumulation. Mill advocated birth control. In 1823 Mill and a friend were arrested while distributing pamphlets on birth control by Francis Place to women in the working class area.
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According to Mill, the supply is very elastic in response to wages. Wages generally exceed the minimum subsistence level, and are paid out of capital. Therefore, wages are limited by the existing capital to pay wages. Thus, wages per worker can be obtained by dividing the total capital in circulation according to the size of the working population. Wages can increase with the increase in capital used to pay wages, or by reducing the number of workers. If wages rise, supply of labor will increase. Competition among workers not only lowers wages, but also makes some workers lose their jobs. This is based on Mill's notion that "demand for commodities is not a demand for labor". This means that the income invested as a down payment from wages for work creates jobs, and not the income spent on consumer goods. Increased consumption leads to a decrease in investment. So an increase in investment leads to an increase in wage funds and economic progress.
In 1869, Mill withdrew its support of the Wage-Fund Doctrine because of the recognition that capital does not need to be improved because it can be supplemented through "earnings of entrepreneurs who might save or spend for consumption." Walker also states in the "Wage Question" that capital restrictions and population growth "are accidental, unimportant" for doctrinal formation. Limitations on industrial capacity growth place limits on the number of workers who can be accommodated more than the capital limit. Furthermore, British agriculture "has achieved diminishing returns"; therefore, each additional worker does not provide more output than he needs for himself to survive. Given the technological and productivity improvements that followed 1848, the original reason for doctrine was regarded as unusual and not the basis for universal law.
Capital accumulation rate
According to Mill, the rate of capital accumulation depends on: (1) "the amount of funds from which savings can be made" or "the measure of industrial net production", and (2) "disposition to save". Capital is the result of savings, and saving comes from "a taboo from current consumption for the sake of future goods". Although capital is the result of savings, it is still consumed. This means savings are spending. Because savings depend on industrial net production, it grows with profits and rents that go into producing clean products. On the other hand, the disposition to save depends on (1) the level of profit and (2) the desire to save, or what Mill calls "the effective desire of accumulation". However, profits also depend on labor costs, and the profit rate is the ratio of earnings to wages. When profits rise or wages decrease, profit levels increase, which in turn increases the rate of capital accumulation. Similarly, the desire to save tends to increase the rate of capital accumulation.
Profit rate
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