Theoretical Studies And Modern Reflections On Administration Philosophy Of John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill is an English thinker who has a great influence on the thinkingpublic, not only domestic but also Chinese. But in the existing studies on John StuartMill, People pay more and more attention on his thought of liberty, utilitarianism,representative government, education, religion, international relationship, internationaltrade, psychologism, feminism etc. On the contrast, this thesis will make a study onMill from the perspective of administration philosophy. Its structure is as follows:Chapter one explains the symbols of his times that is the origin and source ofMill’s administration philosophy. According to Mill, modern society is a progressiveone whose highlight is the flourish of material wealth. And the flourish produces itsoutcomes, politically and morally. The political outcome is the victory of democracy.And the moral outcome has two aspects: one is the cultural direct effect onindividuality and the other is individual insignificance compared with the mass. All ofthese constitute the navigator, dragger and assistor of his administration philosophy.Chapter two expounds utilitarianism and the thought of liberty which are thetheoretical backgrounds of Mill’s administration philosophy. On the one hand, Millreceives the utilitarianism from Jeremy Bentham and develops its meaning throughdemonstrating the validity and legality of utilitarianism by spelling out its implicationand constraining force and explaining the relationship between utilitarianism andjustice. On the other hand, Mill demonstrates the necessity and absoluteness ofindividual liberty from the double perspectives, that is to say, philosophically andpractically. Furthermore， this chapter discusses the relationship between hisutilitarianism and thought of liberty too. This relationship can be said that On Liberty isutilitarian argument about liberty and utilitarianism is his starting point of his thoughtof liberty. They constitute the theoretical premise of his administration philosophy.Chapter three expounds his thought on representative democracy andadministrative management that is the center of his administration philosophy. Millfirmly believes that representative democracy is the best government ideally. But he acknowledges that existing democracy is the false one because of it represents themajority only. He thinks the real democracy is the one that represent all of the civilstate realized by enlarging the right to vote, carrying out the trans-regional election andplural vote system. The administration under the real democracy will abide by the rulessuch as responsibility of administrative leader and speciality of administrative affairs.If we can say that his persistence on democracy shows his valuable direction onadministration philosophy, we can say that his depiction on principle of publicadministration shows his pragmatic attitude too.Chapter four gives some simple answers to the critiques of his administrationphilosophy and explains why we read Mill today through enumerating its possiblevalue for the present. From the political perspective Mill is a bourgeois radical, so hisadministration philosophy has the character of eclecticism. But his utilitarianism, themost powerful demonstration among all utilitarianisms, discloses the premise ofmodern thoughts and events. This is the first reason why we read Mill today. Thesecond reason is that the emphasis on the dialectical relationship between freedom anddemocracy is in keeping with the direction of modern development of publicadministration, that is to say, it is worth pondering deeply over.