The Life and Times

Who is John Stuart Mill?
John Stuart Mill was born in 1806 and died in 1873. He was Jermey Bentham's godson and the son of Benthams colleague. As Bentham, Mill started reading Greek at a very young age and was influenced a lot by Bentham's work. Mill wanted to make a change to the society in the victorian era. He sought to achieve a moral code of conduct that if followed would achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people be it for the rich, the poor, the men or the women.

What Did J.S.Mill contribute to society?
Mill used Bentham's utilitarian view to put forward what he would have considered to be an updated version of it. This is now known as rule utilitarianism which differs in ways from Bentham's act utilitarianism. Many people at the time agreed with Mill as they may have thought Bentham's act utilitarianism was too simplistic. Mill's rule utilitarianism is based on qualitative pleasures rathar than quantitave pleasures, so the hedonic calculus was not a tool Mill used as he maintainted that happiness is "much too complex and indefinite." This ideology that Mill left behind is still something that people study and live by today.

J.S.Mill's Impacts
Mill saw utilitarianism to be more of a social ethic rather than a personal one. He was concerened with the development of society and, just as Bentham, aimed for the lower class to be acknowledged. What's even more suprising to know is Mill's view on women. At a time and place where women were treated with very few rights it may have been considered to be strange that Mill wanted equal rights for women. Mill was promoting his utilitarianism views at a time of social reform and so his views on women's rights were taken into serious consideration by many which may have caused controversies. Nevertheless, Mill continued to strive for establishing the greates happiness for the greatest number of people.