1806–1873 · English philosopher, political economist & Member of Parliament
John Stuart Mill was the leading English-language philosopher of the 19th century, a defender of individual liberty, utilitarian ethics, and women’s suffrage. Raised on an intense, isolating education engineered by his father James Mill, he suffered a famous depressive crisis in his early twenties that reshaped his thinking about happiness. His Autobiography (1873), On Liberty (1859), and Utilitarianism (1861) remain central texts of liberal thought.