Truth and Enlargement in the Political Thought of John Stuart Mill

<p>This dissertation is an inquiry into the political thought of John Stuart Mill. It concerns Mill’s varying usages of the concept of truth and the critical role of enlargement in the influential political doctrines of his later work. The study begins by observing several deficiencies in the current literature on Mill. There is not a sufficient exposition of the philosophical principles that divide the thought of the early Mill from the later Mill; and there is therefore not an adequate explanation of the meaning of the political thought of the later Mill. The analysis indicates that that there is, on a philosophically considered level, a decisive rupture in Mill’s thought that occurs at some point in the early 1850s. I argue that the nature of this rupture can be adequately grasped by an analysis of how the concept of truth is utilized by Mill across these two periods. The analysis of the concept of truth provides grounds for reconsidering the meaning and aim of Mill’s later works such as On Liberty and Utilitarianism. Such reconsideration reveals enlargement as the highest and most comprehensive good at which Mill’s political doctrines aim. The study concludes by evaluating Mill’s thought in light of the findings on truth and enlargement. I argue that the later Mill’s commitment to the project of enlargement obstructs his ability to adequately defend basic liberal principles.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Political Science, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Berg, Aaron

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mark Blitz
• Christopher Nadon

• John Stuart Mill
• Liberalism
• On Liberty
• Political Philosophy
• Truth
• Utilitarianism
• Political Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/503

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1534