Personal History
John
Stuart Mill was born in London on the 20th May, 1806. He was the eldest son
of the philosopher James Mill and his wife Harriet. John Stuart was educated
primarily by Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, and at home by his
father. By the age of twelve, he had studied the works of Aristotle, Hobbes,
and Plato.
His father was dedicated to the ethic of hard, unremitting work. He constantly reminded and impressed upon his son the belief that a person who works more than others will in the end excel far and beyond all others. James Mill also believed that all children are born alike, with little variation in their potential for learnng. He believed that a child's mind is a tabula rasa, a blanket tablet or clean slate, on which teachers can imprint anything they wish. He dedicated his life to imprinting the maximum amount of knowledge upon his son's mind. Typically, four to five hours a day were devoted to the young boy's lessons.
He began studying Greek at the age of three and Latin by five. He also studied literature, history, mathematics, and politics. His first serious writing was published at the age of eleven, focusing on the struggle between the Roman plebeians and patricians. At the age of twelve his education level was probably comparable to that of the best university graduates.
However, such a rigourous education also had negative aspects. John Stuart never learned how to play and act like a boy because he had no playmates. The emphasis was always on hard work and cold rationality. Even his relationship with his brother and sister was unusual. His father appointed him to be their tutor at the age of eight. He was held responsible for the progress of their education. At the age of eighteen he decribed himself as "a dry, hard, logical machine" (Hothersall, 1995, p.69).
In 1823, at the age of seventeen, John Stuart accepted a clerical position under his father at the East India Company. Soon after accepting the position he suffered a severe mental crisis in 1826. This crisis was characterized by profound depression, an inability to work, and acute feelings of worthlessness. "This period of crisis lasted until he was in his middle twenties, when he slowly recovered, emerging with increased self-awareness, particularly a recognition of the importance of feelings and emotions. He saw the need to recognize the irrational as well as the rational, to see that humans are something more than unfeeling machines. However, throughout his life he was troubled by feelings of depression" (Hothersall, 1995, p. 69). He remained with the East India Company until 1858. He retired as chief of the office of the examiner of Indian correpondence.
In 1830 John Stuart was introduced to Harriet Taylor at a dinner party. Mill became a close friend of Taylor and the two worked closely together but Harriet was married, the mother of two children and soon to bear a third, and her husband, John Taylor, was unwilling to give her a divorce. After the death of John Taylor in 1849, Harriet married John Stuart Mill two years later. The intense emotional overtones that accompanied their relationship lasted until her death in 1858. "Until the death of Harriet's husband, the three adults lived together in a ménage à trois that scandalized some of their Victorian acquaintances" (Hayek, 1951, in Hothersall, 1995, p. 70).
From 1865 to 1868 he served as a member of Parliament in the British House of Commons, after which he retired, spending much of his time in Avignon, France, where his wife was buried and where he died. He petitioned in favor of women's suffrage and equal political rights. "During the later years of his life Mill was one of the leading intellectual figures of his period. He did not hesitate to express his opinions and take a stand on controversial issues. During the American Civil War, for example, he stated publicly his opposition to slavery. (Hothersall, 1951, p. 70). Mill died in 1873 at the age of 67. He left a thorough body of works and a lasting reputation as a leading liberal thinker.