John Stuart Mill - The Victorian Age

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), usually cited as J. S. Mill, was a British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century", Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.

Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism (utility as the sum of all pleasure that results from an action, minus the suffering of anyone involved in the action), an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell, John Herschel, and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill engaged in written debate with Whewell.

A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the first Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage

The year 1859 marked the publication of On Liberty, Mills’ landmark work on supporting individuals' moral and economic freedom from the government and society at large. In his autobiography, Mill wrote of "the importance, to man and society . . . , of giving full freedom to human nature to expand itself in innumerable and conflicting directions,” an idea fully fleshed out in On Liberty. In the work, Mill asserts that individuals’ opinions and behavior should enjoy free rein, whether in the face of the law or social pressure. Perhaps as a segue into Mill’s Utilitarianism, which would follow four years later, Mill makes one concession: If a person's behavior harms other people, that behavior should be constrained. The essay has been criticized for various vagaries in its arguments, but it provides an impassioned defense of nonconformity, diversity and individuality.