John Stuart Mill

A carte-de-visite portrait of the English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), who wrote On Liberty (1859), the classic philosophical defence of liberalism, and Utilitarianism (1863), a version of ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ principal in ethics. His progressive views inspired On the Subjugation of Women (1869). In his social philosophy, he gradually abandoned the Utilitarians’ extreme individualism for an outlook akin to liberal socialism, while still laying great emphasis on the liberty of the individual.

Photographed by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.