Political Theory of John Stuart Mill
“Struggle between liberty and authority was historically the struggle between the subjects and government liberty meant protection against the tyranny of political rulers. But when the ideal of democratic government seemed pointless the nation did not need to be defended against its own will there was no fear of the tyrannizing over itself”. – John Stuart Mill
“My idea is that every particular body thus strives to become master of all space and extend its force (-its will to power) and to push back whatever resists its extension. But continually runs up similar efforts of the other bodies and ends up to an arrangement with those that are sufficiently related they then conspire together for power”. –Friedrich Nietzsche
The aim of this thought paper is to relate the ideas of two prominent thinkers in order to show how their concepts are inter connected with one another and whether or not their aspects contradict each other. John Stuart Mill was one of the great philosophers of the nineteenth century. He was also a major liberal theorist and an important influential political economist. While on the other hand Friedrich Nietzsche born in a small town in the Prussian province of Saxony suffered from a sorrowful childhood that would later have a great impact on his life. His father died when he was very young leaving him to be with his mother and sisters. At the age of fourteen the young Nietzsche was sent to a boarding school specializing in classical languages and literatures where he remained for six years went on to become one of the greatest scholars in the history of Europe. Providing a good analysis of the ideas of these prominent thinkers taking a look at their concepts is very important. John Stuart Mill in his work in the field of liberalism and power struggles and incorporating them in with the philosophy of Nietzsche on the will to power.
Comparing and analyzing their ideas towards these two concepts will show how a phenomenon can be explained by philosophy. Using the thought of Mill about the struggle from oppression because of tyranny by the rulers in a state leading to the desire for liberation by the people incorporating this idea with the philosophy of Nietzsche on why do rulers in a state long for power and how they obtain this power will complement the idea of Mill. This paper aims to provide a good view on how the ideas of different thinkers can complement or contradict each other.
John Stuart Mills standing as a political philosopher rests on his insights into the foundation of liberalism, on the power and eloquence with which he grounds them in an appeal to general human good, and on the depth of his understanding of the sciences of man and society. He stressed the idea that self government can lead to a new form of tyranny which is the tyranny of the majority.