History 1807 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Survivalism, The Communist Manifesto, Fatalism
21 Apr 2016
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John stuart mill (1806-1873): upheld his father"s ideas on utilitarianisms and individualism; would embrace state power to promote opportunity and equality for individuals; eventually would come to embrace socialism. Was brought up by his father who made him learn everything. Spent much of his adult life thinking about non-important things like art, culture, literature, etc . Challenged adam smith"s claims about economic law; suggested that economics can explain production but cannot explain production but not distribution; production might fall under economics but distribution is determined by society. Challenges fatalism of political economy suggests that poverty is caused by failures of distribution, not failures of production. Society thus chooses to tolerate poverty and the uneven distribution of wealth. Mill suggest that poverty isn"t inevitable as some political economists had suggested. Smith called for free trade believed countries shouldn"t try to capture all natural resources (survivalist mentality) but produce things that can be produced most efficiently and trade for everything else.
