John Stuart Mill was born in the Pentonville area of London on May 20, 1806. He was an influential liberal thinker in the 19th century. He was a British philosopher, political economist, civil servant, and a member of parliament. Mill grew up well educated by his father James Mill, who was also a philosopher and historian. Mill was also educated with the advise of Jeremy Bentham. He was given a strict and rigorous upbringing. He was immediately shielded from other children and robbed of his childhood. His father wanted him to carry on the cause of Unitarianism after himself and Bentham were dead.
At the age of three he was taught Greek, and by eight he had read Aesop’s Fables, and Xenophon’s Anabasis. He was also familiar with six other dialogues and six of Plato’s. Also at eight he began to learn Latin, Euclid, and algebra. He even read books that were commonly read at the universities at the time. Such as Homer, Horace, etc. By the time he was twelve he had studied the works on Aristotle, Hobbes, Plato, Bentham, Ricardo, and Adam Smith. At the age of fourteen Mill stayed one year in France with Bentham’s brother. He attended courses in zoology and others as well.
Mill was especially impressed with the work of Jeremy Bentham. Mill became a Utilitarian at the age of seventeen and formed a discussion group called the Utilitarian Society. Mill also began having articles published in a journal founded by Bentham and his John Mills’s father. He also wrote for other journals and newspapers as well. He even bought the journal his father had founded.
However, all this intense study over the years took a toll on his mental health and state of mind. At the age of twenty, Mill suffered from a ner ...