Utilitarianism

Mill's short book sets out and defends the principle that actions are right in so far as they tend to promote happiness. Against critics who called this a philosophy fit for pigs, he argues that some pleasures are higher than others, and writes the famous line that it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, better Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.

First published as magazine essays in 1861, Utilitarianism is the clearest classic statement of a theory that still shapes economics, law and ethics, and its last chapter on justice is especially thoughtful. Read it with On Liberty.

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) received one of the most intense educations ever recorded: his father taught him Greek at three and Latin at eight, and by his teens he was writing on economics. At twenty he fell into a deep depression and found his way out through the poetry of Wordsworth, an experience that taught him the value of feeling alongside reason.

He worked for thirty-five years at the East India Company, wrote on logic, economics and politics, and shared his intellectual life with Harriet Taylor, whom he married in 1851. As a Member of Parliament he proposed votes for women in 1867. His On Liberty, Utilitarianism and The Subjection of Women are still at the centre of debate.