Zitate von John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
Geburtstag: 20. Mai 1806
Todesdatum: 8. Mai 1873
Andere Namen: J.S Mill, John S. Mill
John Stuart Mill war ein britischer Philosoph und Ökonom und einer der einflussreichsten liberalen Denker des 19. Jahrhunderts, der seine intellektuelle Schärfe und Unabhängigkeit nicht zuletzt durch sein außergewöhnlich frühes Eintreten für die Frauenemanzipation bewies. Mill war Anhänger des Utilitarismus, der von Jeremy Bentham, dem Lehrer und Freund seines Vaters James Mill, entwickelt wurde. Seine wirtschaftlichen Werke zählen zu den Grundlagen der klassischen Nationalökonomie, und Mill selbst gilt als Vollender des klassischen Systems und zugleich als sozialer Reformer.
Der von ihm als Gegenentwurf zu Thomas Morus’ Utopia geprägte Begriff Dystopia bezeichnet einen pessimistischen Zukunftsentwurf in Philosophie und Literatur.
Werk
Zitate John Stuart Mill
„Es ist zu bezweifeln, ob alle bisherigen technischen Erfindungen die Tageslast auch nur eines menschlichen Wesens erleichtert hat.“
Grundsätze der politischen Oekonomie
„Wenn dasselbe zufällige Zusammentreffen sich nie zum zweitenmale ereignen würde, so hätten wir damit eine leichte Probe, um es von einem jeden Zusammentreffen, das ein Resultat von Gesetzen ist, zu unterscheiden.“
System der deduktiven und induktiven Logik, Siebenzehntes Capitel. Vom Zufall und seiner Elimination, zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009227016
"If the same casual coincidence never occurred a second time, we should have an easy test for distinguishing such from the coincidences which are results of a law." - John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume VII - A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive, Being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence and the Methods of Scientific Investigation (Books I-III), ed. John M. Robson, Introduction by R.F. McRae (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974). 18.2.2017. http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/246#lf0223-07_footnote_nt_2719_ref
„Es ist besser, ein unzufriedener Mensch zu sein als ein zufriedenes Schwein; besser ein unzufriedener Sokrates als ein zufriedener Narr. Und wenn der Narr oder das Schwein anderer Ansicht sind, dann deshalb, weil sie nur die eine Seite der Angelegenheit kennen. Die andere Partei hingegen kennt beide Seiten.“
Utilitarismus
(Original engl.: "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides.) - Utilitarianism, 1863, Chapter 2. gutenberg.org http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11224
„Universitäten sind nicht da, um ein Wissen zu lehren, welches erforderlich ist, um zu einer bestimmten Art des Broderwerbs zu befähigen. Ihre Aufgabe ist es nicht, geschickte Rechtsgelehrte oder Aerzte oder Ingenieure zu bilden, sondern tüchtige und veredelte menschliche Wesen.“
Rektoratsrede an der Universität St. Andrews 1867. Deutsch von :w:Adolf Wahrmund. In: Gesammelte Werke Erster Band. Leipzig 1869. S. 206 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=OShCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA206
Original engl: "Universities are not intended to teach the knowledge required to fit men for some special mode of gaining their livelihood. Their object is not to make skilful lawyers, or physicians, or engineers, but capable and cultivated human beings." - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Inaugural_address_delivered_to_the_University_of_St._Andrews,_Feb._1st_1867
„Ich wollte nicht sagen, dass Konservative generell dumm sind. Ich wollte sagen, dass dumme Menschen im Allgemeinen konservativ sind. Ich halte das für eine so offensichtliche und unleugbare Tatsache, dass ich kaum glaube, daß ein ehrenwerter Mann sie in Frage stellen wird.“
In einer Parlamentsdebatte mit dem dem Konservativen John Pakington MP vom 31. Mai 1866
Hansard, vol 183 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1866/may/31/committee-adjourned-debate#S3V0183P0_18660531_HOC_32, col 1592
Original engl.: I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it.
„What made Wordsworth's poems a medicine for my state of mind, was that they expressed, not mere outward beauty, but states of feeling, and of thought coloured by feeling, under the excitement of beauty. They seemed to be the very culture of the feelings, which I was in quest of. In them I seemed to draw from a Source of inward joy, of sympathetic and imaginative pleasure, which could be shared in by all human beings; which had no connexion with struggle or imperfection, but would be made richer by every improvement in the physical or social condition of mankind.“
— John Stuart Mill, buch Autobiography
Autobiography (1873)
Kontext: Scott does this still better than Wordsworth, and a very second-rate landscape does it more effectually than any poet. What made Wordsworth's poems a medicine for my state of mind, was that they expressed, not mere outward beauty, but states of feeling, and of thought coloured by feeling, under the excitement of beauty. They seemed to be the very culture of the feelings, which I was in quest of. In them I seemed to draw from a Source of inward joy, of sympathetic and imaginative pleasure, which could be shared in by all human beings; which had no connexion with struggle or imperfection, but would be made richer by every improvement in the physical or social condition of mankind. From them I seemed to learn what would be the perennial sources of happiness, when all the greater evils of life shall have been removed. And I felt myself at once better and happier as I came under their influence.
„To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.“
— John Stuart Mill, buch Utilitarianism
Quelle: Utilitarianism (1861), Ch. 2
Kontext: In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.
„The principle itself of dogmatic religion, dogmatic morality, dogmatic philosophy, is what requires to be rooted out; not any particular manifestation of that principle. The very corner-stone of an education intended to form great minds, must be the recognition of the principle, that the object is to call forth the greatest possible quantity of intellectual power, and to inspire the intensest love of truth“
""Civilization,"" London and Westminster Review (April 1836)
Kontext: The principle itself of dogmatic religion, dogmatic morality, dogmatic philosophy, is what requires to be rooted out; not any particular manifestation of that principle. ¶ The very corner-stone of an education intended to form great minds, must be the recognition of the principle, that the object is to call forth the greatest possible quantity of intellectual power, and to inspire the intensest love of truth: and this without a particle of regard to the results to which the exercise of that power may lead, even though it should conduct the pupil to opinions diametrically opposite to those of his teachers. We say this, not because we think opinions unimportant, but because of the immense importance which we attach to them; for in proportion to the degree of intellectual power and love of truth which we succeed in creating, is the certainty that (whatever may happen in any one particular instance) in the aggregate of instances true opinions will be the result; and intellectual power and practical love of truth are alike impossible where the reasoner is shown his conclusions, and informed beforehand that he is expected to arrive at them.
„The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.“
— John Stuart Mill, buch On Liberty
Quelle: On Liberty (1859), Ch. 1: Introductory
Kontext: The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
„We are not so absurd as to propose that the teacher should not set forth his own opinions as the true ones and exert his utmost powers to exhibit their truth in the strongest light.“
"Civilization," London and Westminster Review (April 1836)
Kontext: We are not so absurd as to propose that the teacher should not set forth his own opinions as the true ones and exert his utmost powers to exhibit their truth in the strongest light. To abstain from this would be to nourish the worst intellectual habit of all, that of not finding, and not looking for, certainty in any teacher. But the teacher himself should not be held to any creed; nor should the question be whether his own opinions are the true ones, but whether he is well instructed in those of other people, and, in enforcing his own, states the arguments for all conflicting opinions fairly.
