Impact of John Stuart Mill’s Philosophies on Philippines’ Society, Politics and Economy

The United States, in order to keep growing as a world power, did not have to govern other territories to be prosperous. The U.S. stressed that the Filipinos were incapable of self-government and that the United States had an obligation to civilize them. The United States could've found other means to increase its greatness and power. Means that are morally right and

'Mill's account of personal liberty ensures the development of the individual and society' Assess the validity in this claim.

The utility test stems from the Utilitarian Principle where the consequences of one’s actions determine right or wrong; the ends justify the means. Utilitarian ideas primarily came to fruition in the eighteenth century as three of the most prominent utilitarian philosophers released their works within the same timeframe, all principally speaking to the greatest happiness principle. John Stuart Mill, a distinguished British philosopher of utilitarianism, once stated, “The creed which accepts as the foundations of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” Specifically meaning that the only relevant actions are those producing consequences that can be derived as either good or bad (West, 2010). The purpose of one’s actions is to create a better life through the influx of happiness with the decrease of unhappiness in their surrounding environment; the best course of action to pursue is the path that manufactures the best/greatest possible outcomes.

The Philippines also adopted our way of religious liberty, freedom of speech, and press. These social advancements to the Philippines helped because the people get their own individual rights which citizens very much appreciated. Worcester said that the Philippines granted freedom.

The lack of knowledge deprives many individuals, from the essence of a better quality of life. “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, written by Jonathan Kozol, who is an American writer and educator; discusses the negative effects that society has brought upon illiterate people. Unfortunately, the majority of illiterate individuals suffer from poverty, and are raised in households where their parents could not read or write. In this case, they are subjected to grow in an environment that is deficient of educational skills. The terrible outcome of this, is that the cycle of illiteracy continues to pass on from generation to generation.

Many great economic thinkers throughout history has offered various differing yet interrelated views and ideas that may prove useful to the analysis of current issues in modern economics. A persistent issue in the modern economy is income inequality whereby the distribution of income among the population is unequal. This means that the gap between the rich and the poor increases over time if the issue is not appropriately addressed. In exploring the issue of income inequality in Australia, this essay aims to analyse the issue from the perspective of a selected economic thinker – namely John Stuart Mill – by: (1) providing a summary of Mill’s key ideas and theories, including the different forces that may have shaped his thinking; (2) applying Mill’s conceptual framework to the income inequality problem; and (3) offer solutions he might have suggested to address this problem, including policies that may be adopted and institutions that may be constructed in the Australian context.

In this argument, I believe the failures of the initial Philippine colonial project not only retrogressed the islanders back into their primitive informal aristocracy but actually help unify and modernize a regime that was the complete reversal of American intentions. The result of the type of Filipino government after reconstruction were significantly constrained by Anti-Imperialists tensions from the metropole and continued to reshape itself by many additional constraints from the Filipino legislation. Only about fifty years later of political administration would enable the development of an autonomic government.

Its heavy involvement in government is clear, and promotes inequality within society. ____ and ____ present the idea that a restructuring of society needs to take place to eliminate the corruption in government created by capitalism. The current system is “very much a product of government policies and subsidies” (24) they report. Historically, government has had some form of control over corporations, but modernly they no longer hold that power, and instead work to further the need of investors. They report that according to the current system, “the main job of governance is to make sure the profit system works smoothly” (26). This entanglement of capitalism and government effect how democracy presents itself in the country. Democracy is put in place to allow all to govern equally and have equal chance, but in the topic of the future of employment the conversation leaves out most

Mill (1910) conceives of “political liberties” (p. 66) as a set of rights that was aimed at curtailing sovereign power over individuals. This meant a change in the logic of what it meant to be sovereign. Landes (1999) describes the “political arrangements” (p. 32) within traditional “despotisms” (p. 32) as one where the population of subjects worked and existed purely for the benefit of those in power. Mill himself notes this process, acknowledging that rules of a despotic society are commonly formulated based on interests of elite in power, where “the morality of the country emanates from its (ascendant) class interests” (p. 70). What Mill (1910) is promoting here is a freedom from the “tyranny” (p. 67) of such arbitrary power, contrasted to highlight the autonomy present in the rational individual to think, decide and govern himself, what Mill describes as “a liberty of tastes and pursuits…without impediment” (p. 75). He would therefore argue that the role of the law ought not to be limiting, but instead enabling “free discussion” (p. 73), with protections from the law against harm from others while ensuring a freedom of speech and thought for individual development. This shows how personal freedom also suggested a shift of power in the law from that of repression for the interests of the

John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and a political economist, had an important part in forming liberal thought in the 19th century. Mill published his best-known work, _On Liberty,_ in 1859. This foundational book discusses the concept of liberty. It talks about the nature and the limits of the power performed by society over an individual. The book also deals with the freedom of people to engage in whatever they wish as long as it does not harm other persons.

John Stuart Mill and Marx can both be classified as the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment era in their analyses of human freedom and progress and their differing views of how humans could achieve this progress and ultimately how the modern government should be run.

Another is that Filipinos have a culture of apathy and tend to use religion incorrectly and passively. People depend on religion and settle for what’s okay. In addition, the initial reaction of Filipinos to change is resistance, and this is why the country does not necessarily progress, or at least, progress at a continuous rate. Then, countries like Spain and Portugal only rode the “economic tiger” after “they realized that the only way to survive was change” (3.Y). Plus, according to another critic, the Philippines already had the experience of being under the parliamentary system during the time of Marcos which only resulted in a People Power Revolution. So why should the country bother going back to that? (4.Y)

Under the new regime agriculture developed rapidly, commerce and trade soared to unprecedented levels, transportation and communication were modernized, banking and currency improved, the manufacturing industries were transformed. As compared with the Spanish era, economic progress of the Philippines during the American era forged ahead with great strides. (291)

“Absolute liberty is the absence of restraint; responsibility is restraint; therefore, the ideally free individual is responsible to himself” - Henry Brooks Adams. There has been great debate, past and present with regards to what constitutes as an individuals liberty. It has been subject to constant ridicule and examination due to violations of civil rights. Freedom, liberty, and independence are all important human rights represented within John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”