John Stuart Mill, FRSE (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was a British philosopher, political economist and civil servant. He was an influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy. He has been called "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 control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham. Hoping to remedy the problems found in an inductive approach to science, such as confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of falsification as the key component in the scientific method. Mill was also a Member of Parliament and an important figure in liberal political philosophy.
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“That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)
“It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.”
—Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
“I can remember no time when I did not understand that my mother must write books because people would have and read them; but I cannot remember one hour in which her children needed her and did not find her.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)