biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1773–1836)
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| biography:
| Philosopher, historian, and economist, the father of John Stuart Mill, born in Northwater Bridge, Angus, E Scotland, UK. He studied for the ministry at Edinburgh, and became a teacher, then a journalist. A disciple and friend of Jeremy Bentham, he was an enthusiastic proponent of utilitarianism, and took a leading part in the founding of University College London (1825). His first major publication was the History of British India (1817–18), which secured him a permanent position with the East India Co, where he rose to become head of the Examiner's Office in 1830. He continued writing utilitarian essays for such publications as the Westminster Review and the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and wrote Analysis of the Phenomenon of the Human Mind (1829), his main philosophical work, which provides a psychological basis for utilitarianism. A member of the circle of ‘Philosophical Radicals’, his Elements of Political Economy was an important influence on Marx. |
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