'Freedom in a determined world': 'John Stuart Mill's philosophical engagement with Robert Owen, and its effect on his politics'

Abstract

This paper explores Mill’s and Owen’s incompatible conceptions of character and autonomy. Mill’s conceptions of autonomy and social liberty are indebted to his early opposition to the Owenites, who he debated several times in the 1820s as a member of the Utilitarian Society. Exploring Mill’s engagement with Owen’s idea of character can elucidate some alleged inconsistencies in his later essays. It can also enrich our understanding of Mill’s idea of autonomy, on which his defence of a sphere of ‘moral and intellectual liberty’ is based.