Noah Stefanec's Entry For The 2004 Moffatt Prize in Economics
Of all the economists I have studied and examined thus far, John Stuart Mill is my favorite. If he were to run for office tomorrow, I would vote for him! I enjoy the fact he feels science and hard mathematics can explain a wide variety of human behavior, and I agree with his fear of centralized power and his utilitarian views. The aspect of his thinking I find most stimulating is his view on education and where it could take the stationary state. I have encountered a few different philosophical schools of thought in the past few years, and my favorite one rings of John Stuart Mill. I believe he and Jean-Paul Sartre would have been friends.Sartre, of course, wrote Existentialism and Human Emotions. Existentialism, in its broadest terms, is simply the view that freedom is fundamental to humans, and that “existence precedes essence.” More simply, life has no purpose or function until one defines it for oneself. Mill’s ideas seem to parallel this notion. Reading plenty of ancient Greek philosophy at a very young age, Mill was exposed to very convincing arguments by Socrates that life is more than sitting around watching television while drinking beer. While it is a life, it is a life fit for pigs. A true seeker of wisdom enjoys mathematics, poetry, art, music, and philosophy. These should be indulged in for their own sake, not for personal gain. Education makes a man wiser and more able to notice the world around him. Preferences are actually developed, not given. Once a man is able to think in this manner, he is able to notice that his preferences, while unique and fixed to a certain extent, are actually better than those who have not had as broad an education. This central concept explains Mill’s view that while all preferences are unique, some are truly better than others because preferences for things that improve the quality of life, rationality and the state of one’s soul are more important than preferences that favor consumption for the purpose of satisfying physical urges. That being said, it is possible to “make yourself” (as Sartre would say) by indulging in preferences that better your situation and the situation of others.
Be Sure to Continue to Page 2 of "John Stuart Mill: An Existentialist?".
