The Philosophies of John Stuart Mill as a Guide for the World Essay

The Philosophies of John Stuart Mill as a Guide for the World Dr. Pest's comments: This student's term paper is a model of how to apply the philosophical concepts of a previous century to our present society. She showed how the ideas of John Stuart Mill can be used by intelligent people to construct a society with more opportunities for women and to insure respect for intellectual freedom. As the world moves into the twenty-first century, it faces many problems. War, disease, over-population, and starvation are examples of problems that have yet to be solved. However, progress has been made in many areas that aid in the reduction of human misery. Diseases, through research and scientific study, are better understood—many that formerly were considered deadly are now treatable. Advances in agricultural technology have enabled crops to be grown in great abundance, and thus feed many more people than was possible previously. Unfortunately, there are several problems that seem to defy any of the world's best efforts to remedy them. The subjection of women in much of the world leads to much human misery, as well as being a waste of half of the population where it takes place. The attitude that a woman should be under the rule of a man is one that has only recently changed in the West (and not universally there); in many parts of the world women are no better off than they were hundreds of years ago in this respect. Even in the United States there are many who advocate women's restriction to a submissive role in the home; many of these people are part of the religious right, a politically vigorous group. It is difficult to hope that less advanced nations will take the initiative in freeing women from political and social rest... ... Unity (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), 40. 11 Ibid., 41-42, 47-48. 12 Ibid., 42-47 13 Mi11 and Mill, Essays on Sex Equality, 190-191. 14 Ibid., 183. 15 Bodman and Tohidi, Women in Muslim Societies, 93. 16 Mi11 and Mill, Essays On Sex Equality, 77. 17 John Stuart Mill, Three Essays on Religion (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1998), 242. 18 Mahnaz Afkhami,ed., Faith and Freedom: Women 's Human Rights in the Muslim World (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995), 140. 19 Ibid, 177-179. 20 Ibid., 144. 21 New Era Encyclopedia, 1992 ed., s.v. "Sharia," by Larry B. Miller. 22 Ibid. 23 Mills, Three Essays on Religion, 139. 24 Delos B. McKown, The Mythmaker’s Magic: Behind the illusion of "Creation Science" (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1993), 29. 25 Mi11, Three Essays on Religion, 242-43. 26 McKown, The Mythmaker 's Magic, 55. 27 Ibid., 64.