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John Stuart Mill on education and progress

Publication . Silva, Elisabete Mendes

Money-getting, mechanical progress and human happiness lay at the basis of a utilitarian conception of education in Industrial Britain. “The Benthamic or utilitarian propagandism of that time” (Mill, 1981, p. 105) accounted for the happiness of people at the greatest number possible, even if it implied a mechanical and inadequate instruction. Popular education in the first half of the nineteenth century was not only scarce in quantity, but it was also deficient in quality. John Stuart Mill, the paladin for the provision of state education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development as well as it accounted for the future progress of mankind. Mill, a utilitarian and empiricist philosopher and political liberal thinker, unlike Bentham and his father James Mill, believed the state should control education therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies. In fact, many liberal Victorian political thinkers regarded the dissemination of thorough scientific education a sine qua non condition of industrial and human progress. Therefore, education took a rather scientific outlook as Darwinian ideas throve through the educational setting of Britain. Actually, Mill’s concept of education encompassed both the science and the literary studies. Within this context, the purpose of the paper is thus three-fold. First, we intend to validate that Mill’s utilitarian conception of education was different from that of Bentham’s. Even if Mill recognised the necessity to the mental well-being of mankind, his humanistic stance led him to believe “human nature was not a machine to be built after a model.”(Mill, 1997, p. 87) Concurrent with the first aim, we will also describe the changes the national curriculum suffered under the influence of a more scientific outlook, and, lastly, we will put forth Mill’s position on this matter.

2016Conference object

Open access

Approaching democracy: the virtues of representative government in mid-Victorian England

Publication . Silva, Elisabete Mendes

In 19th century Britain, the century of reform par excellence, the questions of representation, parliamentary reform and democracy were more categorically discussed. The Great Reform Act of 1832 epitomised hope for many people who felt left out of the suffrage, as it would reform the British electoral system but in fact it undermined the expectations since the vote was based on property and on the payment of a rent. The growing political power of a more dominant middle class and the constant pressure of liberals made parliamentary franchise a need and a reality. For this reason, the 1867 Representation of the People Act, also known as the Second Reform Act, removed anomalies in the system the 1832 Reform Act had not addressed, and extended the vote. Within this framework, the purpose of this paper is thus twofold. On the one hand, we will assess the direct and unintended effects of the 1867 Act, exploring the relation between representation and democracy as the possession of the vote and of political power were not necessarily the same thing. On the other hand, we intend to analyse the construction of a political discourse sustained by several playwrights, such as historians and political writers, to meet political, economic, social and cultural needs. With this in mind, we will highlight opposing views regarding suffrage and the disbelief in democracy focusing particularly on Thomas Carlyle and his 1867 Pamphlet: Shooting Niagara - And after?, and some of the supporters of popular democracy and in favour of the extension of the franchise, namely J.S. Mill, W.E. Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. In order to support these objectives, we will also bring to light some 19th century periodicals, such as The Illustrated London News, The Sunday Times, The Times and Punch, scrutinising how they cast the debate on suffrage.

2014Conference object

Open access