Utilitarianism and the Industrial Revolution

At the turn of the 19th century life in western Europe was quickly changing. The individual was to be focused upon for the first time in centuries. The set course of peoples lives were changing in the wake of revolution, both political and industrial. Ironically as philosophy began to focus upon what has worth and what does not, people were losing theirs to machinery. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism was a major component in the passage of acts to help alleviate the struggles of the now lower, or working, class. He made strides in the sanitation of London, and in the housing in the destitute. His philanthropic political activism acts in accord to the tenants of his philosophy, to cause the most happiness to the most people. Although the workhouses that he established for the unemployed were less than hospitable housing, it is likely he saved thousands of lives with his policies, he chose his personal philosophy and he lived by it. John Stuart Mill however had it forced upon him at a young age. James Mill caused a great pain in his son by forcing a tailored personal philosophy upon him, not adhering to the philosophy he valued so much. Though he had great potential John Stuart Mill was so put upon by this intense pressure he had a complete nervous breakdown by age 20. He did not find what made him truly later until he met a married women by the the name Helen Taylor. Though he did not become involved with her until after the death of her husband much later, they collaborated on many works. At this point John Stuart Mill very much began operating in tandem with the philosophy laid out to him by his father and Jeremy Bentham. His works began to address questions of personal freedom, in the form of societal strata, racism, and feminism. His work On Liberty rebuked Despotism in the forms that it was observed, and that it can only be good when the Despot has the best interest of his people in mind, and that the people in question are incapable of "self- government", such as a child. He also gives a passionate defense of Freedom of Speech, something that had become strained by events such as Pitt's Terror. He wrote (with Helen) The Subjection of Women, explaining the legal subjection of women to be a backward thought and morally reprehensible. Both Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill made good on the practice they preach, be it through political action or political influence.