Autobiography (Annotated)

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 - 8 May 1873) was an English 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."[3] Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell, John Herschel and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill engaged in written debate with Whewell. A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the first Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage. John Stuart Mill was born at 13 Rodney Street in Pentonville, Middlesex, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and Harriet Burrow. John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham had died.[10] John Stuart Mill was a notably precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography. At the age of three he was taught Greek.[11] By the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, [11] and the whole of Herodotus, [11] and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes La�rtius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato.[11] He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic, physics and astronomy. At the age of eight, John Stuart Mill began studying Latin, the works of Euclid, and algebra, and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading was still history, but he went through all the commonly taught Latin and Greek authors and by the age of ten could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father also thought that it was important for Mill to study and compose poetry. One of Mill's earliest poetic compositions was a continuation of the Iliad. In his spare time he also enjoyed reading about natural sciences and popular novels, such as Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe.