1. 1806-1873, England; a child prodigy who learned Greek at 3 and logic at 12

2. From1823-1858 worked for the Examiners Office of the East Indies Company

3. Was a member of Parliament from 1865 to 1868 during which he advocated the Reform Bill, women suffrage, and the Irish Land Reform

4. 1843--System of Logic, 1848--Principles of Political Economy, 1859--On Liberty,

1863--Utilitarianism

1. Emphasized individual rights over tradition and dogmatism.

2. Emphasized enlightened reason over appeal to authority. He felt people are adequate to determine the meaningfulness of their own lives.

3. Rejected moral intuitionalism, which maintains that the foundations of morality cannot be proven or justified, only accepted; Mill thought morality is similar to an empirical science.

1. Some pleasures are superior to human life than others. "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates than a fool satisfied." The reason is that Socrates knows both sides of the issue. The highest pleasures come from intelligent decisions.

2. Rejects Kantian ethics because it's intuitional. The common, real sense of morality is that pleasure and the absence of pain are the only things desirable as human goals.

1. Since intuitionalism is wrong, morality must be based on concrete realities and that is the principle of utility--the calculus or comparative estimate of pains and pleasures.

2. The 7 values to estimate pleasure--1) its intensity, 2) duration, 3) certainty, 4) proximity, 5) productiveness, 6) purity, and 7) number of people affected.

3. The principle's full form is "the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people."

a. This occurs best when people are free to determine their own course of life.

4. Society and government thus should promote personal autonomy. The only restraint is in the cases of action where the interests of others are menaced. The preventive function of government should be a minimum.

1. The term comes from William James about Mill view. Mill agree with the hard determinist that there are causes for all actions, human actions included.

2. But he agrees with the libertarian who says we make free decisions.

3. The combination of the two is that we are free when we act out of our truest character.