Best Selling Books by John Stuart

The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill and his wife Harriet Taylor Mill in 1869stating an argument in favour of equality between the sexes. At the time it was published in 1869, this essay was an affront to European conventional norms for the status of men and women. As it is said in the book, "The purpose of this book is to maintain the claim of women, whether in marriage or out of it, to perfect equality in all rights with the male sex." John Stuart Mill, "The Subjection of Women" (1869)

One of the most important nineteenth-century schools of thought, Utilitarianism propounds the view that the value or rightness of an action rests in how well it promotes the welfare of those affected by it, aiming for ''the greatest happiness of the greatest number''. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the movement''s founder, as much a social reformer as a philosopher. His greatest interpreter, John Stuart Mill (1806-73), set out to humanize Bentham''s pragmatic Utilitarianism by balancing the claims of reason and the imagination, individuality and social well-being in essays such as ''Bentham'', ''Coleridge'' and, above all, Utilitarianism. The works by Bentham and Mill collected in this volume show the creation and development of a system of ethics that has had an enduring influence on moral philosophy and legislative policy.

John Stuart Mill''s book Utilitarianism is a classic exposition and defence of utilitarianism in ethics. The essay first appeared as a series of three articles published in Fraser''s Magazine in 1861; the articles were collected and reprinted as a single book in 1863.

Since its first publication in 1859, few works of political philosophy have provoked such continuous controversy as John Stuart Mill''s On Liberty, a passionate argument on behalf of freedom of self-expression. This classic work is now available in this volume which also includes essays by scholars in a range of fields.

On Liberty is a philosophical essay by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill. Published in 1859, it applies Mill''s ethical system of utilitarianism to society and state. Mill suggests standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. He emphasizes the importance of individuality, which he considers prerequisite to the higher pleasures--the summum bonum of utilitarianism. Furthermore, Mill asserts that democratic ideals may result in the tyranny of the majority. Among the standards proposed are Mill''s three basic liberties of individuals, his three legitimate objections to government intervention, and his two maxims regarding the relationship of the individual to society. On Liberty was a greatly influential and well-received work. Some classical liberals and libertarians have criticized it for its apparent discontinuity with Utilitarianism, and vagueness in defining the arena within which individuals can contest government infringements on their personal freedom of action. The ideas presented in On Liberty have remained the basis of much political thought. It has remained in print since its initial publication. A copy of On Liberty is passed to the president of the British Liberal Democrats as a symbol of office. Mill''s marriage to Harriet Taylor Mill greatly influenced the concepts in On Liberty, which was published shortly after she died.On Liberty is a philosophical essay by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill. Published in 1859, it applies Mill''s ethical system of utilitarianism to society and state. Mill suggests standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. He emphasizes the importance of individuality, which he considers prerequisite to the higher pleasures--the summum bonum of utilitarianism. Furthermore, Mill asserts that democratic ideals may result in the tyranny of the majority. Among the standards proposed are Mill''s three basic liberties of individuals, his three legitimate objections to government intervention, and his two maxims regarding the relationship of the individual to society. On Liberty was a greatly influential and well-received work. Some classical liberals and libertarians have criticized it for its apparent discontinuity with Utilitarianism, and vagueness in defining the arena within which individuals can contest government infringements on their personal freedom of action. The ideas presented in On Liberty have remained the basis of much political thought. It has remained in print since its initial publication. A copy of On Liberty is passed to the president of the British Liberal Democrats as a symbol of office. Mill''s marriage to Harriet Taylor Mill greatly influenced the concepts in On Liberty, which was published shortly after she died.

On Liberty is a philosophical work by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill, originally intended as a short essay. The work, published in 1859, applies Mill''s ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state.Mill attempts to establish standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. He emphasizes the importance of individuality, which he conceived as a prerequisite to the higher pleasures--the summum bonum of utilitarianism. Furthermore, Mill criticizes the errors of past attempts to defend individuality where, for example, democratic ideals resulted in the "tyranny of the majority". Among the standards established in this work are Mill''s three basic liberties of individuals, his three legitimate objections to government intervention, and his two maxims regarding the relationship of the individual to society.

“Tornar feliz a vida humana, tanto no sentido comparativamente humilde de prazer e ausência de dor, como no sentido mais elevado de tornar a vida, não aquilo que ela é agora quase universalmente, algo pueril e insignificante, mas tal como podem desejá-la seres humanos com faculdades plenamente desenvolvidas”: este o ideal que inspira John Stuart Mill e que torna instigante e enigmática a sua formulação da ética utilitarista. Educado para ser o porta-voz das ideias de Jeremy Bentham, a influência de valores românticos como a imaginação e a emoção, atenuou, entretanto, o frio rigor analítico da formação inicial de Stuart Mill. O utilitarismo expressa essa tensão, defendendo o anseio da doutrina utilitarista pela “maior felicidade do maior número”, mas alterando o seu significado. Como observou Norberto Bobbio ao tratar das relações entre Ética e Política o utilitarismo é, no campo do pensamento ocidental, provavelmente a última grande tentativa de construção de uma moral universal. O utilitarismo teve em Bentham (1748-1832) a sua primeira grande formulação. É de Bentham que John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) parte neste livro, ao afirmar que “a Utilidade ou o Princípio de Maior Felicidade, como fundamento da moral, sustenta que as ações estão certas na medida em que elas tendem a promover a felicidade e erradas quando tendem a produzir o contrário de felicidade. Por felicidade entende-se prazer e ausência de dor, por infelicidade, dor e privação de prazer”. No entanto, Stuart Mill diferencia-se de Bentham na sua exegese do que é felicidade, pois para ele o prazer não se restringe ao quantitativo do comensurável pela duração e intensidade. Abrange o qualitativo dos prazeres inferiores e superiores pois, na sua concepção de vida, estão presentes não apenas o racionalismo à maneira de Bentham mas as percepções da complexidade da alma humana, realçadas pelo romantismo. Como sublinhou Isaiah Berlin, para Stuart Mill o fundamental é a afirmação da capacidade do Ser humano de exercer a liberdade, escolhendo e decidindo entre o bem e o mal. Na escolha entre o certo e o errado, a tônica do utilitarismo não é o da análise do ser virtuoso mas a da consequência das ações. Por isso, teve e tem impacto na teoria da decisão coletiva, ao buscar imprimir às políticas públicas um sentido de direção, voltado para o bem-estar da sociedade. E por esta razão, que desde Bentham, o utilitarismo está associado ao reformismo e ao progresso. Com efeito, o utilitarismo, como realça Stuart Mill, não é um egoísmo ético. Está voltado para eliminar os males do mundo, a começar pelo sofrimento da pobreza. O critério não é a felicidade do agente mas a multiplicação da felicidade na maior escala possível. O utilitarismo de Stuart Mill é um livro instigante, de um grande e íntegro pensador. A este livro, superiormente traduzido e apresentado por Alexandre Braga Massella e tão oportuno na discussão da agenda contemporânea, o público brasileiro passa a ter acesso nesta primorosa edição da Iluminuras. Celso Lafer

Edicion de Rodriguez Braun, C. Este pequeno volumen, cuya primera edicion aparecio en Londres en 1859, es probablemente el libro mas celebre que nunca haya sido escrito acerca del eterno problema de la libertad. Su autor es el fi losofo y economista ingles John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), uno de los intelectuales lideres de su tiempo y fi gura sobresaliente de la filosofia utilitarista y la escuela clasica de economia. Escrito con destreza y vigor, Sobre la libertad plantea el asunto de modo aparentemente tajante: si la conducta de las personas no afecta a terceros, su libertad de pensamiento y accion debe ser completa. Gobierno, sociedad, religion, costumbre, tradicion, moral, ley: ninguno de ellos tiene ningun derecho a interferir en la soberania individual. La tesis, logicamente, levanto controversias desde la fecha misma de su publicacion, y aun hoy se analiza Sobre la libertad de John Stuart Mill, y se debate sobre su significando para las sociedades democraticas contemporaneas."