Mill on Democracy
Mill on Democracy

Author: Nadia Urbinati

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2002-09

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0226842770

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Despite John Stuart Mill's widely respected contributions to philosophy and political economy, his work on political philosophy has received a much more mixed response. Some critics have even charged that Mill's liberalism was part of a political project to restrain, rather than foster, democracy. Redirecting attention to Mill as a political thinker, Nadia Urbinati argues that this claim misrepresents Mill's thinking. Although he did not elaborate a theory of democracy, Mill did devise new avenues of democratic participation in government that could absorb the transformation of politics engendered by the institution of representation. More generally, Urbinati assesses Mill's contribution to modern democratic theory by critiquing the dominant "two liberties" narrative that has shaped Mill scholarship over the last several decades. As Urbinati shows, neither Isaiah Berlin's theory of negative and positive freedom nor Quentin Skinner's theory of liberty as freedom from domination adequately captures Mill's notion of political theory. Drawing on Mill's often overlooked writings on ancient Greece, Urbinati shows that Mill saw the ideal representative government as a "polis of the moderns," a metamorphosis of the unique features of the Athenian polis: the deliberative character of its institutions and politics; the Socratic ethos; and the cooperative implications of political agonism and dissent. The ancient Greeks, Urbinati shows, and Athenians in particular, are the key to understanding Mill's contribution to modern democratic theory and the theory of political liberty. Urbinati concludes by demonstrating the importance of Mill's deliberative model of politics to the contemporary debate on liberal and republican views of liberty. Her fresh and persuasive approach not only clarifies Mill's political ideas but also illustrates how they can help enrich our contemporary understanding of democracy.

Mill on Nationality
Mill on Nationality

Author: Georgios Varouxakis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-02-01

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1134533853

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John Stuart Mill's thought has been central in recent (as well as older) works of political theory discussing the relationship between liberal democratic politics and nationality or nationalism -- which is far from surprising, given his undisputed influence on liberal attitudes towards nationality from the 1860s to the present. This book provides the first thorough critical study of the attitude of this pillar of the liberal tradition towards nationality, nationhood, patriotism, cosmopolitanism, intervention/non-intervention, and international politics more generally. Based on exhaustive research in a great range or writings by Mill, as well as by his contemporaries and later students, it establishes for the first time clearly and subtly where exactly Mill stood with regard to nationhood, nationalism, patriotism, cosmopolitanism, national self-determination, intervention/non-intervention and other important issues in international ethics. It thus exposes and challenges all sorts of misconceptions, half-truths, or myths surrounding Mill's views on, and attitude towards, nationality and related issues in a vast literature from the mid-nineteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first century. At the same time, it offers a timely contribution to contemporary debates among political theorists on the relationship between liberal democratic values and nationalism, patriotism and cosmopolitanism, not least through its articulation of a distinct sense in which patriotism and cosmopolitanism can be compatible and mutually reinforcing (based on Varouxakis's interpretation of Mill's thought on this question). The reader will find critical discussions of the pronouncements on some of the issues examined (or on Mill's contributions to them) of some of the most important late-twentieth-century political theorists as well as of contemporaries or near-contemporaries of Mill.

J.S. Mill's Political Thought
J.S. Mill's Political Thought

Author: Nadia Urbinati

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-01-29

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1139462512

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The year 2006 marked the two hundredth anniversary of John Stuart Mill's birth. Though his philosophical reputation has varied greatly, it is now clear that Mill ranks among the most influential modern political thinkers. Despite his enduring influence, the breadth and complexity of Mill's political thought is often underappreciated. While his writings remain a touchstone for debates over liberty and liberalism, many other important dimensions of his political philosophy have until recently been ignored. This book aims to correct such neglect, by illustrating the breadth and depth of Mill's political writings, by drawing together a collection of essays whose authors explore underappreciated elements of Mill's political philosophy. The book shows how Mill's thinking remains pertinent to our own political life in three broad areas - democratic institutions and culture, liberalism, and international politics - and offers a critical reassessment of Mill's political philosophy in light of recent political developments and transformations.

On Democracy, Freedom and Government & Other Selected Writings
On Democracy, Freedom and Government & Other Selected Writings

Author: John Stuart Mill

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781587314070

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In addition to "On Liberty" and "On Representative Government," this new selection of Mill's writings includes, among others, a number of less known of his writings, such as: "Civilization," "Perfectibility," "The Negro Question," "On Education," "On Aristocracy," "On Marriage," "On Free Press," "Socialism," Mill's review of Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," his letters to Tocqueville, and several other writings. If one can use a somewhat exaggerated language, Mill's writings are to liberal-democracy what Marx and Engels' writings were to Communism. Both systems gave expression to 19th century man's longing for equality and justice, both promised to liberate him from the shackles of oppression, authority and tradition. Instead of liberating man, Communism created the most brutal system in human history, and its spectacular fall in 1989 is one of history's greatest events. Western world today shows that liberal-democracy is no longer a benign doctrine, which advocates free market, minimum state and individual liberties, but, like Communism, is an all-encompassing ideology which forces an individual to abdicate his freedom and soul in favor of a Communist-like collective. As many critics of real Socialism could see the seeds of totalitarianism in the writings of Marx and Engels, so one can see the seeds of liberal totalitarianism in Mill's writings. This new edition is intended to help readers to understand why democratic-liberalism came so close to its 19th century ideological rival.

John Stuart Mill and Representative Government
John Stuart Mill and Representative Government

Author: Dennis F. Thompson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1400868580

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Although Mill regarded Considerations on Representative Government as a mature statement of his theory of democracy, critics have tended to treat it less seriously than most of his other major works. Dennis Thompson argues that this neglect has led to inadequate interpretations of Mill's thought on democracy. Drawing where appropriate on other writings by Mill, the author restores a balanced view by studying the structure of the theory expounded in Representative Government. Representative Government is shown to be more coherent and systematic than has generally been assumed. In the first two chapters the author examines separately Mill's views of political participation and competence. He then considers the philosopher's effort to combine participation and competence at any particular time in a theory of government and to reduce conflict between them over time in a theory of development. Basic features of Mill's view are subjected to critical scrutiny, and modifications are suggested to overcome the deficiencies noted. Throughout, Mill's claims are compared with the ideas and findings of recent social science, leading to the conclusion that his theory remains a valuable resource for contemporary thinking about democracy. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

John Stuart Mill and Epistemic Democracy
John Stuart Mill and Epistemic Democracy

Author: Ivan Cerovac

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-03-09

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 179363677X

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This book characterizes Mill as a political instrumentalist and an epistemic democrat, analyzing the epistemic arguments he uses to support his political proposals. Exploring his endeavor to resolve the conflict between political and epistemic values, it sets the epistemic criteria as a basis for unifying Mill's political thought.

Individuality and Mass Democracy
Individuality and Mass Democracy

Author: Alex Zakaras

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0195384687

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Alex Zakaras argues that we must develop an ideal of citizenship suitable for mass society. To do so, he turns to a pair of 19th-century philosophers - John Stuart Mill and Ralph Waldo Emerson - who were among the first to confront the specific challenge of making mass democracy work.

Mill's Progressive Principles
Mill's Progressive Principles

Author: David O. Brink

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2013-04-18

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0199672148

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David O. Brink offers a reconstruction and assessment of John Stuart Mill's contributions to the utilitarian and liberal traditions. Brink defends interpretations of key elements in Mill's moral and political thought, and shows how a perfectionist reading of his conception of happiness has a significant impact on other aspects of his philosophy.