[diotima]

John Stuart Mill was the son of James Mill, a well-known Utilitarian. John S. rebelled against his father and went to the other "extreme" if you will, fighting FOR liberty in the face of tyranny of the majority. Utilitarianism seeks to bring about the the most pleasure (pleasure=good in this case) for the greatest number of people. This would naturally result in the tyranny of the majority.

Hope this helps, I can do more if you would like. Actually, Mill is a good read and On Liberty is not that long.

[McGavin999]

Thanks diotima, I found "On Liberty" and posted a link to it for other people who have Mills at the top of their list.

[mtngrl@vrwc]

1. Aquinas (100%)
2. Sartre (100%)
3. Ockham (96%)
4. Kant (94%)
5. Augustine (81%)
6. Mill (77%)
7. Spinoza (74%)
8. Prescriptivism (71%)
9. Bentham (66%)
10. Aristotle (64%)
11. Rand (57%)
12. Epicureans (52%)
13. Nietzsche (45%)
14. Hume (42%)
15. Stoics (38%)
16. Plato (33%)
17. Hobbes (15%)
18. Noddings (13%)
19. Cynics (6%)

Now if I can only figure out what this all means!

[general_re]

John Stuart Mill was the son of James Mill, a well-known Utilitarian. John S. rebelled against his father and went to the other "extreme" if you will, fighting FOR liberty in the face of tyranny of the majority. Utilitarianism seeks to bring about the the most pleasure (pleasure=good in this case) for the greatest number of people. This would naturally result in the tyranny of the majority.

Not really. Mill was born and bred to Utilitarianism by his father, and never "rebelled" against it - on the contrary, he wholeheartedly embraced it. He followed directly in the footsteps of Jeremy Bentham in formulating the inductive philosophy of Utilitarianism, as opposed to what he considered to be Kant's "intuitive" approach to moral theory.

"On Liberty" is a very good work, and well worth reading, but you might also have a look at J.S. Mills's "Utilitarianism" also.