John Stuart Mill and Socialism

Life

John Stuart Mill was born in 1806 at Pentonville on the outskirts of London, and was the eldest son of James Mill. His father was a friend, and close political associate of Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a Utilitarian philosopher and radical reformer. James Mill along with the help of Bentham believed that that far more could be achieved through rigorous education. So John was entirely homeschooled, where he learned Greek at the age of three, Latin and algebra by age eight, and was effective at reasoning by his early teens. However, all of this education did eventually catch up to J. S. Mill when he had a nervous breakdown, and sunk into a deep depression for almost two years. He later stated that Romantic poetry contributed greatly to his recovery especially that of Wordsworth. This new perceptive encouraged him to combine elements of value from the various philosophical, cultural, and political positions. Mill continued to pursue these values until his death in 1873 at the age of 67.

Socialist View

Mill believes that the two main elements to be considered in any proposals are “that which is to be changed, and what which it is to be changed to.” The first is the judgment of Socialism on existing institutions and practices, and how they reach their results. The second are the various plans for which Socialism believes it can do better. Socialists believe that the present arrangements of society are a total failure. This is mainly dealing with property, production, and the distribution of wealth. Mill continues to assert that socialist ideals are for an equal share of the labor would attain a fair share of the fruits produced. However it is the land owners that receive the fruits of labor and not the workers. This makes birth the most powerful of all the determining circumstances for ones success. The second would be that of success in life by accident and opportunity. This then brings the socialist to determinants of virtues. With the increase in market size there is less reason for a merchant to produce quality goods, but instead cheaper products that can be sold at top prices for higher revenue. In the past the merchant had to rely on return business while now with more consumers an inferior good can take its place. Mill believes that “honesty is the best policy”, and that an honest person will have a better chance of success than that of a rogue.

This brings socialist to the first grand failure of the existing arrangements of society, poverty. The second is human misconduct; crime and vice, along with all the sufferings which follow them. Poverty can be linked to idleness in a few circumstances where individuals are not compelled to work, must likely due to bad education or lack of education. Socialists believe that these must be failures of the social arrangements, and that current social arrangements with free markets are a cause for struggle. The only way to get ahead is to push others back or not be pushed back by them. They consider this system a private war between everyone and everyone, which is fatal in an economical point of view and in a moral. Therefore, society is travelling towards a new feudality, one which is ruled by great capitalists.

In Mills “On Liberty” he uses the writing by Blanc, Considerant, and Owen to further the understanding of the socialist position and what they determine to be wrong with the social arrangement of the time.

Louis Blanc

Blanc broke his arguments into two separate parts. How the social arrangements affect the poor and how they affect the middle class. He explains the position of the poor and how they are affected by competition the best in the following paragraph.

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Responses to Mill

Mill's View on Socialism

John Stuart Mill, along with Herbert Spencer, follow an egalitarian ideology. Mill believes that all people within a society shall receive political, economic and social equality. Simply put, everyone counts as one. The theory of egalitarianism is contended by Charles Darwin, who takes an opposite approach. In accordance to Darwin's famous "natural selection" theories, he believes a hierarchy evolves since people are fighting for the "general good." The "general good" revolves around individual utility, referred to as a capacity of happiness. The contending views of Mill and Darwin can be found in Vanity of the Philosopher?

Mill contends the topic of "capacity of happiness," with an utilitarian views, Mill believes that if they majority of people are happy, then our society as a whole has a high capacity of happiness. Whereas Darwin carries his natural selection theory in explaining evolution, Mill agrees with Spencer in stating that sympathy is the backbone behind evolution. One's capacity of sympathy is crucial, and creates a backbone of moral obligation, justice and beneficence. In evaluating happiness, Darwin relies on a more quantitative backing. Darwin believes that people can judge happiness, but not perfection. For Mill, he agrees with Spencer in that a "calculus of social welfare" exists when people in a society are connected by sympathy. (ADD MORE ABOUT CALCULUS OF SOCIAL WELFARE)

Economics is NOT a Dismal Science

Early economists such as Thomas Carlyle have pinned economics as the "dismal science." Based of Thomas Robert Malthus's theory, Carlyle believes that starvation will occur, since the rate of human growth far exceeds the food supply. Mill attacks Carlyle's viewpoint in his book, Principles of Political Economy 1848.

Mill believes that labeling economics as a "dismal science" is highly far-fetched and radical. Such a dilemma should not occur given that humans control and limit their population. Mill states that humans need to value both limiting growth and protecting the environment, which should take priority over economic growth. Economic growth can be labeled as a catalyst towards disaster. There exist a variety of benefits when limiting human growth. Clearly, we are preserving our available food supply and minimize the poverty percentage. Basically, the study of economics should be pinned for blame, rather people need to exercise better judgment when it comes to growth rates.

In Principles of Political Economy, Mill goes on to discuss his pro-socialism standpoints. Mill begins by stating that there is little to no economic research that disproves the workings of socialism. Again, Mill draws on his "capacity of happiness" arguments. Published in 1861, Mill wrote a book Utilitarianism, which captured his happiness arguments. The welfare of a society and moreover, humanity comes from their degree of happiness.