Quotation
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“The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.”
John Stuart Mill · Liberalism · Modern · 1859
What does it mean?
A state's worth, in the long run, is the worth of the people who compose it. He is closing the book against a state that makes people smaller so they will be easier to use. A rival reading, civic and sometimes fair, says institutions have a worth that is not just the sum of private virtues, and that his ending slides back into individualism after chapters about social power. He thinks a machine-state that dwarfs its citizens has already failed, however efficient the machine. The sentence is not a claim that public life does not matter.
Did John Stuart Mill really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Mill's English, near the end of On Liberty. He has just warned against a state that dwarfs its people in order to make them docile instruments.
Where it comes from
On Liberty, chapter 5
Approximate date: 1859.
How to use it
A department in Whitehall celebrates a smooth system that leaves the people using it less able to judge anything for themselves. He would not count the smoothness as the state's worth. Ask what sort of person the system is making. The question is his ending. It is not a reason to despise administration. It is a reason to look at what the administration does to capacity.
A mindset reading
Chapter 5 is about applications, including education and the limits of interference. The ending is not a new principle. It is the harm principle and the defence of individuality, said at the level of a whole state.
Understand the philosophy
The sentence is a bad epitaph if it is detached from the warning about docile instruments. Read the paragraph. The worth of individuals is contrasted with the worth of a machine, not with the worth of justice.
- society
- virtue
- freedom
FAQ
What does it mean?
A state's worth, in the long run, is the worth of the people who compose it. He is closing the book against a state that makes people smaller so they will be easier to use. A rival reading, civic and sometimes fair, says institutions have a worth that is not just the sum of private virtues, and that his ending slides back into individualism after chapters about social power. He thinks a machine-state that dwarfs its citizens has already failed, however efficient the machine. The sentence is not a claim that public life does not matter.
Did John Stuart Mill really say this?
Well attested. Mill's English, near the end of On Liberty. He has just warned against a state that dwarfs its people in order to make them docile instruments.
Which work is it in?
On Liberty, chapter 5 Approximate date: 1859.