“The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found, men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious.”

English philosopher, political economist, and politician

John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist, and politician. A major figure in nineteenth-century liberal thought, he is known for shaping modern ideas about individual freedom and limits on state and social control. He argued for liberty as a protection for the individual, and is closely associated with the Harm principle. Mill also supported proportional representation, the emancipation of women, and the growth of labour organisations and farm cooperatives. His work is often placed within both classical liberal and social liberal traditions.