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John Stuart Mill ( May 20, 1806 - May 8, 1873) an English philosopher and economist, was the most influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. He was an advocate of utilitarianism, the ethical theory first proposed by his godfather Jeremy Bentham. John Stuart Mill was born in his father's house in Pentonville, London, the eldest son of James Mill. Mill was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with boys his own age. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationismAssociationism began as a theory about how ideas combine in the mind. John Locke suggested that each of us was born without any innate capabilities a Tabula Rasa which learned to form representations as a result of experiences, rather than of reason., had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham were dead.
His feats as a child were exceptional; at the age of three he was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight he had read AesopAesop or sop (from the Greek Aisopos , famous for his Fables, is supposed to have lived from about 620 to 560 B. Aesop's Fables are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments especially children's plays and cartoons.'s Fables, XenophonXenophon ( 431- c. 354 BC), whose name means "strange sound", was an Athenian citizen, an associate of Socrates, a Philodorian and is known for his writings on Hellenic history and culture. While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition led by's Anabasis, and the whole of HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC? c. 430 BC/ 420 BC?). Overview Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B. known sim, and was acquainted with LucianLucian of Samosata (c. 120 after 180) was a Syrian rhetorician and satirist, writing in the Greek language, noted for his witty and scoffing nature. He was born in Samosata, Syria and died in Athens, and he was also known as Lucianos, Lucianus and Lucinus, Diogenes Laėrtius, IsocratesIsocrates ( 436 338 BC), Greek rhetorician. Though he didn't speak himself, due to his weak voice and stage fright, he made many contributions to rhetoric and education in ancient Greece through his teaching and written works. Of the 60 orations in his na and six dialogues of Plato (see his Autobiography). He had also read a great deal of history in English.
A contemporary record of Mill's studies from eight to thirteen is published in Bain's sketch of his life. It suggests that his autobiography rather understates the amount of work done! At the age of eight he began Latin, Euclid, and algebra, and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading was still history, but he went through all the Latin and Greek authors commonly read in the schools and universities at the time. He was not taught to compose either in Latin or in Greek, and he was never an exact scholar; it was for the subject matter that he was required to read, and by the age of ten he could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father's History of India was published in 1818; immediately thereafter, about the age of twelve, John began a thorough study of the scholastic logic, at the same time reading Aristotle's logical treatises in the original language. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo with his father--ultimately completing their classical economic view of factors of production.
Mill worked for the British East India Company, but he was also a Liberal member of Parliament. Mill advocated easing the burdens on Ireland, and basically worked for what he considered reason. In "Considerations on Representative Government" Mill called for various reforms of Parliament and voting, especially proportional representation and the extension of suffrage.
In 1851 Mill married Harriet Taylor ( Harriet Taylor Mill) after 21 years of friendship. Taylor was a signficant influence on Mills's work and ideas during both friendship and marriage. His relationship with Harriet Taylor inspired Mill's advocacy of women's rights.
