Views of Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill Essay examples

None of the supposed rights of man go beyond the egoistic man, man as he is a member of civil society; that is, an individual separated from the community, withdrawn into himself, wholly preoccupied with his private interests and acting in accordance with his private caprice. Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty While, after reading the above two quotations, it may appear that Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill take seemingly opposing views on the proper†¦show more content†¦The real truth, however, falls somewhere between these two poles. Mill on the Individual Mill wastes no time in articulating the central thesis of On Liberty; he states, Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign (69). Mill, then, does not make the individual more important than society, but he separates the individual from society and articulates a realm of existence in which society, or the community, should have no power over the individual. Mill states, The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protectionÂ…His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant (68). Society, therefore, has no right to intervene in the private life of any person, unless they act in such a way that prevents others from enjoying their own rights. Mill is extremely clear as to why the individual should be sovereign over his or her body and mindÂâ€"to counter the effects of a possible tyranny of the majority. Mill states, It (the majority) practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself (63).Show MoreRelatedKarl Marx And John Stuart Mill Essay1576 Words   |  7 PagesKarl Marx and John Stuart Mill were both philosophers who lived in the 1800s. Beginning with Karl Marx, he was a German philosopher, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. In his adult years, Marx was not recognized as a citizen of any country even though he was born in Germany and he spent most of his years in London, England. There, he continued to evolve his philosophy and social thought in participation or collaboration with a German thinker cal led Friedrich Engels. They worked together andRead MoreGovernment And Societal Ideas From The 19th Century1232 Words   |  5 PagesCentury, three prominent thinkers John Stuart Mill, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Karl Marx had their own ideas of an ideal society. These individuals had their own unique view of the perfect society. However, they all have something in common with their visions: all of these excerpts discussed an oppressive entity. In all of the three ideal societies concocted by these men, tyrannical governments or oppressive societies are obstacles to their visions. In the excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, he discussesRead MoreMarx, Mill And Freud s Critique Of Political Economy And The Communist Manifesto Essay1133 Words   |  5 Pagesmerely implicit) notions of freedom and unfreedom we find in the texts we have read by Marx, Mill and Freud. Use the esoteric traditions we have examined thus far (from the Book of Job to Plato) as a comparative yardstick, or point of reference, but without letting them take over the foreground in your paper -- the latter should be reserved for these three figures. Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and John Stuart Mill are three authors who tackle the topic of freedom in unique ways, but their messages areRead MoreTyranny And The Social Wellbeing Of Citizens1750 Words   |  7 Pages19th century, in the age after the French Revolution, the vast majority of political and philosophical thinkers concerned themselves at some point with the issue of tyranny in society. Such writers spanned from Alexis de Tocqueville, to John Stuart Mill, to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The interpretations and approaches taken to the subject of tyranny and how to protect against it, though, were as varied as the collection of authors who addressed it. From de Tocqueville’s stringent observationsRead More A Comparison of the Economic Philosophies of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx1781 Words   |  8 PagesSmith (18th Century), John Stuart Mill (19th Century), and Karl Marx (19th Century) are of the same cloth, but in modern terms their community is re ferenced as a government, and they each have their own distinct opinions on the drive instilled within human nature that shape their personal economic theories. I will be dissecting the views of each of these economists, in regards to the role of government within their envisioned society. While showcasing the difference in views, I want to focus onRead MoreCritical Writing Assigment 41874 Words   |  8 Pageswhich leaned somewhat to laissez-faire economics, the interpretation of John Stuart Mill, which was complex and indecisive, and the interpretation of Karl Marx, which argued against the concept of a free market. The essay concludes by discussing the complexity of the debate and the unanswered questions it still presents to modern economists. Keywords: free market, free market system, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx Introduction The majority of classical economists based their workRead MoreMasterpieces Always Come With Good Reasons And Fantastic1716 Words   |  7 Pagesexcellent works. I. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill In his work On Liberty, Mill starts from historical facts, analysing facts using his reasons and gets his conclusions; then, changing his way he used to use, he starts from fictions that made by himself and are different or totally opposite to those historical facts, and gets an opposite conclusions, thus reinforcing his conclusions extracted from facts. And we shall see a lot of examples in his work. When Mill talks about the liberty of beliefRead MorePostmoderntiy: a Break from Modernity1903 Words   |  8 Pagesdefinitive and it’s up to the writers to clarify their particular usage. (Gibbins Reimer, 1996, p. 8) As such, the meaning of â€Å"post† in this paper refers a â€Å"break from†, â€Å"opposition to†, â€Å"difference to and from† and a response to†. Works of Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill; Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault will prove that there is break between Modernity and Postmodernity. Modernity Modernity refers to a way of life and state of mind that experience progressive economic and administrativeRead MoreJeremy Bentham And Utilitarianism1461 Words   |  6 Pageswould not conclude to start a food fight. Bentham taught his teachings to one of his disciples John Stuart Mill. Just as Bentham, Mill believed in utilitarianism and advocated it throughout his beliefs. He advocated for women’s suffrage, which does produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Classless Philosophy At the same time, Karl Marx advocated for a different view of society. Karl Marx (1818-1838) was a Prussian philosopher who noticed the great gap between the rich and the poorRead MoreMy Life I Have Been Exposed With Little Diversity Essay2146 Words   |  9 Pageswould change my perspective on freedom entirely). Throughout the term nearly all the books had a theme of freedom, however, five stood out in particular Democracy and Its Global Roots by Amartya Sen, On Liberty by John Stuart Mill and The Republic by Plato, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and Omelas by Ursula le Guin. Throughout the semester Human Experience gave me the opportunity to branch out from my credulous past and learn more struggles that occurred for society to be