Examination Of John Mill's Liberal Theory

Liberalism is the dominant ideology of western society, and also the main line of western political thought. A well-known liberal political thinker of the 19^th century, John Mill occupies an important position in the history of liberalism. His thinking was based on the reality of his contemporary British society, which not only inherited the basic position of classical liberalism, with a complete theory advocating individual freedom, individual development, regarding safe-guarding individual freedom as the core value of liberalism, but also transcended the limits of traditional liberalism, and advocated social justice, limited governmental intervention, and greater concern for the living of the common people. He also re-examined the true meaning of freedom from a broader perspective of social liberty and broadened the scope of freedom. At the same time, Mill went beyond Bentham's utilitarianism to explore the possibility of realizing the liberty of all members of the society in the process of social development, and also to recognize the important role of representative government in protecting the freedom of each individual, thereby fostering a free society. These theoretical innovations make Mill's liberal political theory a bridge between classical liberalism and neo-liberalism, and also make himself an important transitional figure in western liberal tradition. Thus Mill's theory is very important for us to understand the development of liberalism.This thesis also attempts to explore valuable relevance in Mill's theory for the synthetic innovation of Chinese culture and the development of Chinese socialist political culture. Mill's ideas inspire us to reflect, in the process of building a harmonious society, on how to safeguard Chinese citizens' liberty and rights and, furthermore, to help them to freely and fully develop their individuality, and in the condition of market economy, how to promote social justice with governmental intervention, and thereby to realize the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the people.