This is philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel Warburton.

Philosophy bites is available at www

philosophy bites.com.

John Stuart Mill was given an upbringing by his father, so demanding, so arduous,

so rigid that many blame it for his subsequent mental breakdown. By age three he was learning Latin and Greek. Economics, geometry and logic soon followed.

His father, James Mill, was a friend and disciple of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham and a notable philosopher and economist in his own right.

John Stuart Mill was a sort of laboratory test, an experiment in raising a utilitarian child.

To a degree it worked. John Stewart went on to become a

member of Parliament and brilliant philosopher and economist. He was an early

advocate of women's rights and was the architect of modern liberalism.

He eventually found personal happiness through his long friendship and subsequent marriage

to Harriet Taylor.

Richard Reeves has written a biography of Mill

and so is well placed to link Mill's ideas

to his highly unusual life.

Richard Reeves, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Thank you.

The topic we're focusing on is John Stuart Mills great book on liberty.

That book has been described by him as a philosophic textbook of a single truth.

Could you say a bit about what that truth is?

Sure, I think on Liberty is fascinating both because it's the best short version of his

philosophy but also tells us a bit about Mill and it's revealing of his life.

...