On John Stuart Mill

148 Pages·2023·1.341 MB·English

by  Philip Kitcher

On John Stuart Mill
CORE KNOWLEDGE
CORE KNOWLEDGE
The Core Knowledge series takes its motivation from the goals, ide-
als, challenges, and pleasures of Columbia College’s Core Curriculum.
The aim is to capture the intellectual energy and the stimulus to cre-
ative thinking that is a fundamental ideal of such courses as Literature
Humanities and Contemporary Civilization. In the spirit of Core
teaching, the books are intended to reflect on what the featured works
can be if approached from different or unusual vantage points; how
they may inform modern experience, and how they are to be viewed
not as sources of plain fact, certainty, and assured beliefs but as prov-
ocations to the imagination that help us to see differently, experimen-
tally, and with a spirit of intellectual adventure.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sarah Cole
Jeremy Dauber
Eleanor Johnson
Matthew L. Jones
Elisabeth Ladenson
David Quint
Nadia Urbinati
Gareth D. Williams
On
John Stuart Mill
Philip Kitcher
Columbia University Press / New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2023 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Kitcher, Philip, 1947– author.
Title: On John Stuart Mill / Philip Kitcher.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2023. |
Series: Core knowledge | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022027704 (print) | LCCN 2022027705 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231204149 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780231204156
(trade paperback) | ISBN 9780231555395 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Mill, John Stuart, 1806– 1873.
Classification: LCC B1607 .K58 2023 (print) | LCC B1607 (ebook) |
DDC 192—d c23/eng/20220817
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2022027704
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn. loc . gov / 2022027705
Columbia University Press books are printed
on permanent and durable acid- free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
Cover image: Alamy
To the students in my sections of Contemporary Civilization
and to the graduate student preceptors with whom I
have worked, with thanks for many hours of fruitful and
instructive conversation.
And in memory of Deborah Martinsen, whose warmth and
commitment to students have done so much for general
education at Columbia.
j

Contents
Preface ix
1. The Making of a Conflicted Humanist 1
2. Freedom for All? 23
3. Democracy in Danger? 49
4. Inevitable Inequality? 73
5. When Do the Numbers Count? 99
Coda: Progressive Mill 125
Suggestions for Further Reading 129
Index 131

Preface
W
hen sessions of Columbia’s extraordinary Core Course,
Introduction to Contemporary Western Civilization
(more usually known as “Contemporary Civilization”
or just “CC”) come fully alive for a group of twenty- two
sophomores—a nd that is by no means a rare event—e veryone
in the room, students and teacher alike, is no longer simply
absorbing the ideas of some thinker from the past but actively
relating the author’s words to the circumstances of the day. CC
is not merely concerned with digesting the chunks of wisdom
supplied by the Great Dead, according to some recipe supplied
by conventional scholarship. At its best, it consists in an inter-
rogation of the text from which first- time readers and seasoned
experts may learn.
The excitement of finding new treasures in familiar places is
one of the great joys of teaching this course, especially savored
by those who have the privilege of serving a three- year term
working with the graduate student preceptors who are teaching
it for the first time. I have enjoyed that privilege. As one of my
predecessors told me in advance, it is a “dream job.” His assess-
ment is entirely accurate.