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Birth and Origins
Born in 1806 to James and Harriet Mill. As evidence of his potential, John Stuart Mill began to learn Greek at age three, read Plato at seven, and began Latin at eight (Macleod, 2017). -The Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy -
East India Company
At age seventeen, Mill joined his father as an employee of the East India Company, where he worked six hours a day writing dispatches. The same year he was arrested for distributing pamphlets on birth control (Priest, 2017).- Oxford University Press Article
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Mill's Mental Crisis
For about five months during the winter of 1826-1827, Mill suffered from a depression. He recovered by reading Wordsworth, and resolved to add emotions to his rationality. -
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Mill became an Editor of The London Review
Mill had begun an active public career as a proponent of utilitarian reform and a writer for the periodical press. Over Many years, Mill contributed to some of the most important newspapers and journals of the time. (Priest, 2017) -
Publication of a System Logic
Mill’s first major publication was a System of Logic, which goes over the argument for the primacy of induction over deduction and which secured Mill’s reputation as a philosopher. -
Publication of the Principles of Political Economy
Mill’s next major publication was “The Principles of Political Economy”, which became a very popular text book; it went through 32 editions in 50 years. Mill noted that “although production is constrained by the laws of nature, the distribution of income is a choice made by society. Since economic institutions are not fixed by nature, they can be change for the better.” (Priest, 2017). -
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Marriage
Although they knew each other for over two decades, Mill did not married to Harriet Taylor until her husband died (John Taylor), they married in 1851. Harriet’s intellectual influence was profound; most of Mill’s writings were really joint productions with Harriet. After Harriet’s death in 1858, Mill lived and collaborated with his stepdaughter, Helen Taylor. -
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Publication of On Liberty and Utilitarianism
Mill’s On Liberty (1859) bases individual freedom on utilitarian values rather than natural right, arguing that the only limit to an individual’s freedom of choice should be when those choices would harm others. To this day, it remains among the most celebrated texts on the subject -
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Mill Serves as a Member of Parliament
In 1865 Mill was elected as a Liberal member of Parliament for Westminster. He took part in debates over the passage of the 1867 Reform Bill and spoke out strongly in favor of Irish land reform, women’s suffrage, and the importance of an active foreign policy in the cause of freedom. He was defeated in the elections of 1868, partly because of his support of unpopular progressive causes, and he retired from active public life to devote time to writing. -
Death
In May 1873, during a trip to France with Halen Taylor, Mill became ill and died. He was buried alongside Harriet Taylor Mill in Avignon.