John Stuart Mill

"Stuart Mill" redirects here. For the town in Australia, see Stuart Mill, Victoria.

For his father, the economist and historian, see James Mill.

John Stuart Mill
Mill in c. 1870
Member of Parliament for City of Westminster
In office 25 July 1865 – 17 November 1868 Serving with Robert Grosvenor
Preceded by	De Lacy Evans
Succeeded by	William Henry Smith
Personal details
Born	(1806-05-20)20 May 1806 Pentonville, Middlesex, England
Died	7 May 1873(1873-05-07) (aged 66) Avignon, Vaucluse, France
Party	Liberal
Spouse	Harriet Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1851; died 1858)​
Parents	James Mill (father) Harriet Barrow (mother)
Education	University College London
Philosophical work
Era	19th-century philosophy Classical economics
Region	Western philosophy
School	Consequentialism Empiricism Liberalism Psychologism Social liberalism (Contested) Classical Liberalism (Contested) Utilitarianism
Academic background
Influences	Appleton Bentham Carlyle Comte Fourier James Mill Owen Priestly Ricardo Saint-Simon Smith Taylor Taylor Mill
Main interests	Economics ethics logic politics
Notable ideas	Direct reference theory early liberal feminism emergentism harm principle social liberty liberty as freedom to act vs. liberty as the absence of coercion Mill's methods Millian theory of proper names public/private sphere rule utilitarianism
Signature

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, and politician. He was a paradigmatic philosopher of liberalism and has been described as "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century" by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He conceived of liberty as justifying the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control, and formulated the Harm principle. He also advocated proportional representation, the emancipation of women, and the development of labour organisations and farm cooperatives, and has been classified as both a Classical Liberal and Social Liberal.

The Columbia Encyclopedia describes Mill as occasionally coming "close to socialism, a theory repugnant to his predecessors". He was a proponent of the utilitarianism of his predecessor Jeremy Bentham, and contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology.

A member of the Liberal Party and co-author of the early feminist work The Subjection of Women (1869), Mill was also the second Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage after Henry Hunt in 1832. The contentions of his essay On Liberty (1859) remain highly influential: and a copy of the work is passed to the president of the Liberal Democrats (the successor party to Mill's own) as a symbol of office.