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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Western Philosophy 4.12.2 John Stuart Mill [1806 1873] Mill threads together empiricism and positivism [Mill's philosophy is significantly positivist even when it is not overtly so]: Later day British Empiricism [this includes Mill] has much in common with positivism [and herein lies the weakness of Mill's method of empirical logic and inductive inference, his law of causation, and rejection of a priori truthsdespite his great prolificacy and practical influence] Mill's interest in science, like Saint-Simon's and Comte's, is motivated by his interest in social reform 4.12.2.1 The external world and the self Mill holds that we can know only phenomena [though he admits the thing-in-itself]Mill's metaphysics is too limited to hold present interest 4.12.2.2 Mental and moral sciences For social reform Mill calls for a reform of the mental and moral sciences 4.12.2.3 Psychological determinism [^1] cause and effect, [^2] humans are free regarding inner desires, [^3] the will is not always hedonistic 4.12.2.4 Ethology Science of formation of character 4.12.2.5 Social science Mill's method would be complex: more like that of the complex physical sciences than of geometry: predictions are tendencies rather than positive statements Science of government is part of the science of society History when judiciously examined illustrates the empirical laws of societywhich can be checked verified by psychological and ethological laws Social stasis and stability result from consensusdynamics is progression 4.12.2.6 Ethics The greatest good of the greatest numberunlike Bentham: the quality of pleasure is important.

Mill vacillates between [^1] the empirical hedonistic egoistic deterministic, and [^2] the intuitionistic perfectionistic altruistic free-willistic.