John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill, FRSE (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. He was an influential contributor tosocial theory, political theory and political economy. He has been called "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century".[3]Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control.[4] He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham. Hoping to remedy the problems found in an inductive approach to science, such as confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of falsification as the key component in the scientific method.[5] Mill was also a Member of Parliament and an important figure in liberal political philosophy.
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Biography
John Stuart Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area of London, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and Harriet Burrow. John Stuart 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 children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of Benthamand an adherent of associationism, 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 had died.[6]
Mill was a notably precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography. At the age of three he was taught Greek.[7] By the age of eight he had readAesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis,[7] and the whole of Herodotus,[7] and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laërtius, Isocrates and six dialogues ofPlato.[7] He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic,