Talk:John Stuart Mill

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Women's suffrage?

"In 1866, he became the first person in the history of Parliament to call for women to be given the right to vote, vigorously defending this position in subsequent debate." This contradicts the assertion in the opening paragraph that he was the second. Which is correct? RyanCarey1 (talk) 18:39, 6 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Help: prank text removed; hoping someone can reinsert corrected sentence

The following was in the text as I read it before making a change:

He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on tiktok videos, notably William Whewell, John Herschel, and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. He engaged in written debate with Whewell.

I removed everything after scientific methodology - I suspect most of the rest of the sentence has valuable information, but I don't know how to correctly adjust or contextualize it. It would be ideal if someone with the right background could correct and reinsert it. Here's the original version with the proper formatting:

He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on tiktok videos, notably William Whewell, John Herschel, and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. He engaged in written debate with Whewell. Galutnik (talk) 16:35, 6 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Someone has apparently fixed it since I wrote this. Thank you! Galutnik (talk) 16:37, 6 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Why the focus on individual liberty?

The introductory paragraph quotes a review of On Liberty, focusing on the individual’s freedom from state control. But Mill believed in utilitarianism, which seeks the greatest good for the greatest number. Columbia encyclopedia 5th Ed. says “at times Mill came close to socialism a theory repugnant to his predecessors… He constantly advocated, political and social reforms, such as proportional representation emancipation of women and the development of labor, organizations and farm cooperatives.” Therefore the focus on individual liberty really misrepresents the totality of his beliefs. EdBenti (talk) 20:25, 17 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]