Mill summary

We shall discuss this claim further below section 4. Mill offers two answers to this question. Mill claims that all of his principles on liberty appeal to the ultimate authority of utilitarianism, according to Nigel Warburtonmuch of the essay can seem divorced from his supposed final court of appeals.

Such, Mill thinks, is the true content of our notion of the external world.

That we perform operations in a deductive manner in the following case: Such propositions are key to understanding the uninformative nature of a priori propositions and a priori reasoning.

Enhanced by his powerful, lucid, and accessible prose style, Mill's writings on government, economics, and logic suggest a model for society that remains compelling and relevant.

His account of knowledge, however, draws upon his general picture of mind, world, and their relation—and therefore depends on a theory of what there is. When he learned otherwise, he judged his abilities average at best and credited his father.

Such methods must, of course, be applied cautiously—the existence of background conditions makes it difficult to say with certainty that any individual phenomenon is in fact the causally active agent—and results will always be provisional, and open to further correction Ducheyne She remembers the last words that her husband said as he left: John Stuart Mill imbibed his utilitarian philosophy and his extraordinary education from his father, James Mill.

On Mill's view, this entails in particular that the government is never justified in trying to control, limit, or restrain: Manifestly, we do work through many inferences in deductive terms—and this is nowhere clearer than in the case of mathematics.

It is worth emphasizing that in no case does Mill think that the ultimately inductive nature of the sciences—whether physical, mathematical, or social—precludes the deductive organization and practice of the science Ryan His fifth chapter looks at particular examples and applications of the theory, to clarify the meaning of his claims.

Mill, that is to say, attempts to account for the genuine informativeness of mathematical and geometric reasoning by denying that they are in any real sense a priori. The proposition S is P can be understood, in the case that P is a connoting term, as the claim that the object denoted by S has the attribute connoted by P.

Human action should arise freely from the character of individual human beings, not from the despotic influence of public opinion, custom, or expectation. This, Mill concedes, would be of little consolation if our character and desires are beyond the control of an individual to influence. On Liberty is a philosophical work by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill, originally intended as a short essay.

The work, published inapplies Mill's ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state.

On Liberty study guide contains a biography of John Stuart Mill, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes John Stuart Mill (–) Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.

John Stuart Mill, the English utilitarian, concerns himself in this work with the problem of defining the limits of the power of the state to interfere with personal liberty. The result is. Mill rejects attempts, either through legal coercion or social pressure, to coerce people's opinions and behavior.

He argues that the only time coercion is acceptable is when a person's behavior harms other people--otherwise. Lesson Summary.

John Stuart Mill's On Liberty applies the utilitarianism philosophy of Jeremy Bentham to the actions of the government. Mill argues that if the majority of people disapprove of an.

Mill summary