Research On Mill's Political Thoughts

John Stuart Mill is a famous modern British thinker. His thoughts dealwith politics, economics, philosophy, logic, religion, ethics and otherfields. He is thus regarded by western scholars as the 'national spiritualsymbol for the 19th century Britain' and 'the saint of the rationalism'.Mill can never be neglected in the history of research on modern westernpolitical thoughts. The development of Mill's thoughts can be mainly divided into threephases: the utilitarianism phase, the liberalism phase and the socialismphase. As to the contents of his political thoughts only, there are fourparts: the philosophical basis of the political thoughts – utilitarianism,the principles of the political thoughts – liberalism, the realization of thepolitical thoughts – the representative government, and Mill's latepolitical thoughts trend– socialism. Utilitarianism is the foundation of Mill's political thoughts. Therehave been so many bias and misunderstandings towards utilitarianism inthe traditional Chinese concepts of thinking that as a result there hasn'tbeen a systematic understanding of Mill's political thoughts for a longtime. If Bentham is the first person to propose the theory ofutilitarianism in the Western ethics thinking history, then, based on theBentham's 'Pains-Pleasures principle' and the 'Most People's GreatestHappiness Principle', Mill has further developed the Benthamic theories.The utilitarianism of Mill is mainly the thoughts about the individual'sinnermost cultivation, and this is also the precondition for establishingthe reasonable exterior conditions and for the proper training on thehuman beings' thinking and activity. To Mill, the understanding of theexterior environment cannot avoid the understanding of the humannature, and the understanding of the human nature is helpful forunderstanding the society. Therefore, the grasping of the human naturebecomes the impassable agency for understanding the exteriorenvironment and the society. The so-called exterior conditions are the 223system designs based on Mill's thoughts. The improvements of theexterior conditions reflect Mill's concept on individuality, morality,justice and progress. From the understanding of the human nature, Millbrings about the nurture of human 'individuality', the cultivation ofwhich is the chief factor for the human beings' and the society'sdevelopments, and is also the chief propulsive power for the humanhappiness. A 'happy' empiricist, Mill advocates for the respect for thehuman life's self-control and liberty, rather than shaping life onlyaccording to one 'happiness' concept. In fact, Mill's seemingly loose'happiness' concept contains the liberty spirit. To Mill, 'happiness' hasseveral levels just like the 'enjoyment' does. He divides 'happiness' intotwo levels: 1. As 'happiness' itself, it can be desired and be part of thehappiness' aims and meanwhile it is the tool for obtaining the totality ofhappiness. 2. Since it is the tool to obtain the happiness' aim, it has greatassociation with the desire target, and then it is also regarded as one ofthe genes for happiness. Mill's 'happiness' concept is never an emptydogma. Because the fact that he has put morality into happiness, andadvocates that the individual should actively advance the publichappiness, should even make some necessary sacrifices, and shoulddefine the proper restriction powers for the moral principles, we canreasonably believe that Mill is definitely not an unkind empiricist. Oneof the important reasons for the disputes on the Benthamic 'MostPeople's Greatest Happiness Principle' is on 'whether the maximizationcan show justice'. Mill pays attention to this problem as well. Whenaddressing the relation between the individual happiness and the publichappiness, he points out that equality is the core spirit of justice. Thisclearly shows that Mill's utilitarian principles...