On John Stuart Mill PDF
Preview On John Stuart Mill
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.
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