Biblioteche dell'Alto Adige

Abstract: Ostile a ogni ideologia che possa limitare le libertà individuali, Mill si pronuncia per una politica di riforme istituzionali e distributive intese a realizzare una maggiore giustizia e un "governo di tutti per tutti". Il criterio utilitaristico del massimo benessere del maggior numero di individui deve essere alla base di queste riforme; ma nel benessere di ciascuno è incluso quello che deriva per ciascuno dalla felicità degli altri.

Abstract: John Stuart Mill, filosofo ed economista britannico del XIX secolo, massimo esponenti del liberalismo e dell'utilitarismo, nel Sistema della logica deduttiva e induttiva conduce una critica alla logica tradizionale insegnata nell'Inghilterra nella prima metà dell'Ottocento, proponendo una radicale riformulazione dei suoi termini e delle sue metodologie d'indagine. Il Sistema oggi esce per Utet in un ebook integrato da compendio critico collegato in forma di ipertesto.

Abstract: John Stuart Mill, filosofo ed economista britannico del XIX secolo, è stato uno dei massimi esponenti del liberalismo e dell'utilitarismo. La sua opera più significativa, Principi di economia politica, espone la dottrina politico-sociale dell'autore e ne documenta il pensiero liberale. Oggi quest'opera esce per Utet in edizione digitale con un nutrito apparato di note connesse al testo italiano tramite collegamenti ipertestuali.

Abstract: "Il principio che regola gli attuali rapporti sociali tra i due sessi – la subordinazione dell'uno all'altro sancita per legge – è un principio scorretto in sé che, diventato ormai uno dei principali ostacoli al progresso umano, andrebbe sostituito con un principio di assoluta uguaglianza, tale da non ammettere alcun tipo di potere o di privilegio per una delle due parti, né presumere incapacità di sorta per l'altra." In questi saggi, John Stuart Mill e sua moglie Harriet Taylor mettono al centro della loro discussione filosofica la questione femminile: dal matrimonio – che rappresenta non un problema privato, ma politico – al divorzio, dall'asservimento, tutt'altro che naturale e legittimo, delle donne sino alla loro emancipazione. Si tratta di un'analisi acuta e penetrante che fa di questo testo una pietra miliare del femminismo contemporaneo.

Abstract: L'utilitarismo (dal latino utilis, utile) è una dottrina filosofica di natura etica secondo la quale il bene si identifica con l'utile. Indica anche una particolare corrente fondata da Jeremy Bentham, il quale pensa che un'azione sia buona, cioè utile, se produce il più alto grado di felicità per il maggior numero possibile di persone, dove per "felicità" si intende la presenza di piacere e l'assenza di dolore.Sin dalla fine del XVIII secolo, l'utilitarismo ha avuto ampia diffusione perché ha notevolmente semplificato le modalità di valutazione delle azioni: infatti, nei primi utilitaristi come John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), la valutazione morale di un atto è ricondotta alla sua capacità di produrre felicità o piacere, senza alcun riferimento a leggi divine o a presupposti metafisici cui esso avrebbe dovuto conformarsi. Inoltre, proprio per la sua agevole applicazione, diventa un principio guida della condotta anche per l'economia, il diritto e la politica.Tuttavia Mill, rispetto Bentham, opera tre cambiamenti significativi ben espressi in questo lavoro del 1861: sostituisce alla nozione di "piacere" quella di "felicità" (dato che il piacere sarebbe una nozione riduttiva e non in grado di restituire l'ampiezza e la varietà dei comportamenti individuali); sostiene la distinzione qualitativa dei piaceri; fonda il principio di utilità sul sentimento di giustizia.

Abstract: Utilitarismo è un saggio scritto dal filosofo ed economista inglese John Stuart Mill.È stato originariamente pubblicato come una serie di tre articoli separati su Fraser's Magazine nel 1861 prima di essere raccolto e ristampato come un unico lavoro nel 1863. L'opera, considerata una classica esposizione in difesa dell'utilitarismo, è stata pesantemente criticata alla sua pubblicazione; tuttavia, da allora, l'utilitarismo ha guadagnato una significativa popolarità.John Stuart Mill (Londra, 20 maggio 1806 – Avignone, 8 maggio 1873) è stato un filosofo ed economista britannico, uno dei massimi esponenti del liberalismo e dell'utilitarismo e membro del Partito Liberale. Considerato uno dei pensatori più influenti nella storia del liberalismo classico, Mill contribuì ampiamente allo sviluppo della teoria sociale, della teoria politica e dell'economia politica. Traduzione di Eugenio Debenedetti.

Abstract: Filosofo ed economista tra i più influenti nel 19° sec., Stuart Mill è ricordato anche per essere l'autore del primo lavoro femminista scritto da un uomo.Coerente con la sua visione liberale della vita si batté per la libertà di coscienza, pensiero ed espressione; era per la libertà di associazione; infine era un strenuo difensore della libertà di perseguire la felicità. Non stupisce quindi che scrivendo questa opera fondamentale, rivendicasse la parità dei sessi nel diritto di famiglia e si dischiarò a favore del suffragio universale, allora vietato alle donne. La libertà di voto avrebbe contribuito alla fine di ogni residuo di schiavitù legale esistente, permettendo alle donne di essere considerate alla pari degli uomini.Presentiamo il volume con una prefazione e la traduzione di Anna Maria Mozzoni, pioniera dei diritti civili delle donne in Italia e grande conoscitrice del pensiero di Stuart Mill.

Abstract: On Liberty is a philosophical work by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill, originally intended as a short essay. The work applies Mill's ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state. Mill attempts to establish standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. He emphasizes the importance of individuality which he conceived as a prerequisite to the higher pleasures--the summum bonum of Utilitarianism. Furthermore, Mill criticized the errors of past attempts to defend individuality where, for example, democratic ideals resulted in the "tyranny of the majority". Among the standards established in this work are Mill's three basic liberties of individuals, his three legitimate objections to government intervention, and his two maxims regarding the relationship of the individual to society "which together form the entire doctrine of [Mill's] Essay."On Liberty was a greatly influential and well received work, although it did not go without criticism. Some attacked it for its apparent discontinuity with Utilitarianism, while others criticized its vagueness. The ideas presented in On Liberty have remained the basis of much liberal political thought. It has remained in print continuously since its initial publication. To this day, a copy of On Liberty is passed to the president of the British Liberal Democrats as a symbol of office. A copy of the same book is also presented to and then held by the president of the Liberal Party as a symbol of office.Mill's marriage to his wife Harriet Taylor Mill greatly influenced the concepts in On Liberty, which was largely finished prior to her death, and published shortly after she died.

Abstract: For some time much has been said, in England and on the Continent, concerning "Positivism" and "the Positive Philosophy." Those phrases, which during the life of the eminent thinker who introduced them had made their way into no writings or discussions but those of his very few direct disciples, have emerged from the depths and manifested themselves on the surface of the philosophy of the age. It is not very widely known what they represent, but it is understood that they represent something. They are symbols of a recognised mode of thought, and one of sufficient importance to induce almost all who now discuss the great problems of philosophy, or survey from any elevated point of view the opinions of the age, to take what is termed the Positivist view of things into serious consideration, and define their own position, more or less friendly or hostile, in regard to it. Indeed, though the mode of thought expressed by the terms Positive and Positivism is widely spread, the words themselves are, as usual, better known through the enemies of that mode of thinking than through its friends; and more than one thinker who never called himself or his opinions by those appellations, and carefully guarded himself against being confounded with those who did, finds himself, sometimes to his displeasure, though generally by a tolerably correct instinct, classed with Positivists, and assailed as a Positivist. This change in the bearings of philosophic opinion commenced in England earlier than in France, where a philosophy of a contrary kind had been more widely cultivated, and had taken a firmer hold on the speculative minds of a generation formed by Royer-Collard, Cousin, Jouffroy, and their compeers. The great treatise of M. Comte was scarcely mentioned in French literature or criticism, when it was already working powerfully on the minds of many British students and thinkers. But, agreeably to the usual course of things in France, the new tendency, when it set in, set in more strongly. Those who call themselves Positivists are indeed not numerous; but all French writers who adhere to the common philosophy, now feel it necessary to begin by fortifying their position against "the Positivist school." And the mode of thinking thus designated is already manifesting its importance by one of the most unequivocal signs, the appearance of thinkers who attempt a compromise or juste milieu between it and its opposite. The acute critic and metaphysician M. Taine, and the distinguished chemist M. Berthelot, are the authors of the two most conspicuous of these attempts...___[Halls of Wisdom] From Buddha to Confucius to Plato and down the spiral of time to Kant, Nietzsche and Russell, the Halls of Wisdom are filled to overflowing, yet barely full. Explore the cavernous teachings of the masters, get lost in the art of wonder, and fall in love with wisdom.The only thing you can lose are your chains.

Abstract: All speculations concerning forms of government bear the impress, more or less exclusive, of two conflicting theories respecting political institutions; or, to speak more properly, conflicting conceptions of what political institutions are.By some minds, government is conceived as strictly a practical art, giving rise to no questions but those of means and an end. Forms of government are assimilated to any other expedients for the attainment of human objects. They are regarded as wholly an affair of invention and contrivance. Being made by man, it is assumed that man has the choice either to make them or not, and how or on what pattern they shall be made. Government, according to this conception, is a problem, to be worked like any other question of business. The first step is to define the purposes which governments are required to promote. The next, is to inquire what form of government is best fitted to fulfill those purposes. Having satisfied ourselves on these two points, and ascertained the form of government which combines the greatest amount of good with the least of evil, what further remains is to obtain the concurrence of our countrymen, or those for whom the institutions are intended, in the opinion which we have privately arrived at. To find the best form of government; to persuade others that it is the best; and, having done so, to stir them up to insist on having it, is the order of ideas in the minds of those who adopt this view of political philosophy. They look upon a constitution in the same light (difference of scale being allowed for) as they would upon a steam plow, or a threshing machine....___[Halls of Wisdom] From Buddha to Confucius to Plato and down the spiral of time to Kant, Nietzsche and Russell, the Halls of Wisdom are filled to overflowing, yet barely full. Explore the cavernous teachings of the masters, get lost in the art of wonder, and fall in love with wisdom.The only thing you can lose are your chains.

Abstract: Liberty was published in 1859, when the nineteenth century was half over, but in its general spirit and in some of its special tendencies the little tract belongs rather to the standpoint of the eighteenth century than to that which saw its birth. In many of his speculations John Stuart Mill forms a sort of connecting link between the doctrines of the earlier English empirical school and those which we associate with the name of Mr. Herbert Spencer. In his Logic, for instance, he represents an advance on the theories of Hume, and yet does not see how profoundly the victories of Science modify the conclusions of the earlier thinker. Similarly, in his Political Economy, he desires to improve and to enlarge upon Ricardo, and yet does not advance so far as the modifications of political economy by Sociology, indicated by some later—and especially German—speculations on the subject. In the tract on Liberty, Mill is advocating the rights of the individual as against Society at the very opening of an era that was rapidly coming to the conclusion that the individual had no absolute rights against Society. The eighteenth century view is that individuals existed first, each with their own special claims and responsibilities; that they deliberately formed a Social State, either by a contract or otherwise; and that then finally they limited their own action out of regard for the interests of the social organism thus arbitrarily produced. This is hardly the view of the nineteenth century. It is possible that logically the individual is prior to the State; historically and in the order of Nature, the State is prior to the individual. In other words, such rights as every single personality possesses in a modern world do not belong to him by an original ordinance of Nature, but are slowly acquired in the growth and development of the social state. It is not the truth that individual liberties were forfeited by some deliberate act when men made themselves into a Commonwealth. It is more true to say, as Aristotle said long ago, that man is naturally a political animal, that he lived under strict social laws as a mere item, almost a nonentity, as compared with the Order, Society, or Community to which he belonged, and that such privileges as he subsequently acquired have been obtained in virtue of his growing importance as a member of a growing organisation. But if this is even approximately true, it seriously restricts that liberty of the individual for which Mill pleads. The individual has no chance, because he has no rights, against the social organism. Society can punish him for acts or even opinions which are anti-social in character. His virtue lies in recognising the intimate communion with his fellows. His sphere of activity is bounded by the common interest. Just as it is an absurd and exploded theory that all men are originally equal, so it is an ancient and false doctrine to protest that a man has an individual liberty to live and think as he chooses in any spirit of antagonism to that larger body of which he forms an insignificant part...

Abstract: There is as great diversity among authors in the modes which they have adopted of defining logic, as in their treatment of the details of it. This is what might naturally be expected on any subject on which writers have availed themselves of the same language as a means of delivering different ideas. Ethics and jurisprudence are liable to the remark in common with logic. Almost every writer having taken a different view of some of the particulars which these branches of knowledge are usually understood to include; each has so framed his definition as to indicate beforehand his own peculiar tenets, and sometimes to beg the question in their favor.This diversity is not so much an evil to be complained of, as an inevitable and in some degree a proper result of the imperfect state of those sciences. It is not to be expected that there should be agreement about the definition of any thing, until there is agreement about the thing itself. To define, is to select from among all the properties of a thing, those which shall be understood to be designated and declared by its name; and the properties must be well known to us before we can be competent to determine which of them are fittest to be chosen for this purpose. Accordingly, in the case of so complex an aggregation of particulars as are comprehended in any thing which can be called a science, the definition we set out with is seldom that which a more extensive knowledge of the subject shows to be the most appropriate. Until we know the particulars themselves, we can not fix upon the most correct and compact mode of circumscribing them by a general description. It was not until after an extensive and accurate acquaintance with the details of chemical phenomena, that it was found possible to frame a rational definition of chemistry; and the definition of the science of life and organization is still a matter of dispute. So long as the sciences are imperfect, the definitions must partake of their imperfection; and if the former are progressive, the latter ought to be so too. As much, therefore, as is to be expected from a definition placed at the commencement of a subject, is that it should define the scope of our inquiries: and the definition which I am about to offer of the science of logic, pretends to nothing more than to be a statement of the question which I have put to myself, and which this book is an attempt to resolve. The reader is at liberty to object to it as a definition of logic; but it is at all events a correct definition of the subject of this volume..._____[Halls of Wisdom] From Buddha to Confucius to Plato and down the spiral of time to Kant, Nietzsche and Russell, the Halls of Wisdom are filled to overflowing, yet barely full. Explore the cavernous teachings of the masters, get lost in the art of wonder, and fall in love with wisdom.The only thing you can lose are your chains.

Abstract: È uno dei saggi più celebri dell'autore, pubblicato nel 1859, in cui la sua concezione etica dell'utilitarismo viene applicata all'individuo e alla società. Nel tentativo di stabilire un principio saldo sulla relazione tra autorità e libertà, Mill attribuisce all'individuo la libertà di fare tutto quel che vuole o può, a patto di non danneggiare un altro individuo, e cioè a patto di non recare danno alla società; questa ha infatti il diritto di difendersi nel momento in cui la associazione che la costituisce venga messa in pericolo.

Abstract: " On continue à exploiter celui qui se laisse faire jusqu'au moment où il est forcé de résister. Telle est la tendance habituelle de la nature humaine. "John Stuart Mill, éminent philosophe et économiste britannique, est l'auteur de nombreux textes classiques de la pensée libérale et utilitariste en Europe. Ses ouvrages sont d'une portée idéologique inestimable, inspirants encore aujourd'hui les plus grands penseurs. Guidé par le regard critique que portait son grand amour Harriet Taylor sur la condition féminine dans l'Angleterre victorienne, il fut l'un des premiers philosophes à défendre ouvertement la cause des femmes. Avec son approche novatrice de la liberté des femmes qu'on peut qualifier de "féminisme libérale", il posa les premières pierres du mouvement féministe anglais. Il continua de lutter toute sa vie pour la reconnaissance de l'égalité des sexes, fermement convaincu que l'émancipation des femmes était nécessaire au progrès de l'humanité.Malheureusement, plus de 50 ans après la création en France du Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF), les réflexions de Mill sur les droits des femmes restent d'une actualité déconcertante. EXTRAIT : " L'objet de cet essai est d'expliquer aussi clairement que possible les fondements d'une opinion à laquelle j'adhère depuis que se sont élaborées mes idées sur les problèmes sociaux et politiques et qui, bien loin de s'affaiblir ou de se modifier, s'est sans cesse renforcée sous l'effet conjugué de mes réflexions et de l'expérience. Je considère que le principe qui régit les relations sociales existant entre les deux sexes — la subordination légale d'un sexe à l'autre — est mauvais en soi et représente, à l'heure actuelle, l'un des principaux obstacles au progrès de l'humanité. Je considère qu'il doit être remplacé par un principe d'égalité totale qui refuse tout pouvoir ou privilège pour l'un des deux sexes, toute incapacité pour l'autre. "

Abstract: " La liberté de l'individu doit être ainsi bornée : il ne doit pas se rendre nuisible aux autres. "John Stuart Mill, éminent philosophe et économiste britannique, est l'auteur de nombreux textes classiques de la pensée libérale et utilitariste en Europe. Ses ouvrages sont d'une portée idéologique inestimable, inspirants encore aujourd'hui les plus grands penseurs. Avec une approche novatrice de la liberté sociale et civile, il pose la question du pouvoir de la société sur la liberté de l'individu. Il traite de la tyrannie de la majorité posant la question centrale de la conciliation de l'intérêt individuel avec l'intérêt général. Ce texte, publié en 1859, expose également une défense passionnée de la liberté d'expression, condition nécessaire pour tout progrès social. Véritable plaidoyer pour la tolérance, cet ouvrage prône l'individualité et l'excentricité pour le bien-être de chacun et de tous. Ses réflexions sur les droits des individus et sur la dictature des masses sont d'une actualité déconcertante. EXTRAITS : " Le sujet de cet écrit n'est pas le libre arbitre, mais bien la liberté sociale ou civile, c'est-à-dire la nature et les limites du pouvoir qui peut être légitimement exercé par la société sur l'individu : une question rarement posée et presque jamais discutée en termes généraux, mais qui influe profondément sur les controverses pratiques du siècle par sa présence secrète, et qui probablement se fera bientôt reconnaître pour la question vitale de l'avenir. Cette question est si loin d'être neuve, que dans un certain sens elle a divisé l'humanité, presque depuis les temps les plus reculés. Mais elle se présente sous de nouvelles formes, dans l'ère de progrès où les groupes les plus civilisés de l'espèce humaine sont entrés maintenant, et elle demande à être traitée d'une façon différente et plus fondamentale. "" La seule liberté qui mérite ce nom, est celle de chercher notre propre bien à notre propre façon, aussi longtemps que nous n'essayons pas de priver les autres du leur, ou d'entraver leurs efforts pour l'obtenir. Chacun est le gardien naturel de sa propre santé, soit physique, soit mentale et spirituelle. L'espèce humaine gagne plus à laisser chaque homme vivre comme bon lui semble, qu'à l'obliger de vivre comme bon semble au reste. "

Abstract: A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive: being a connected view of the principles of evidence and the methods of scientific investigation Mill's Logic, first published in 1843, firmly established Mill as the leader of the empirical school of logic. A System of Logic is the first major installment of his comprehensive restatement of an empiricist and utilitarian position. It begins the attack on "intuitionism" which Mill carried on throughout his life, and makes plain his belief that social planning and political action should rely primarily on scientific knowledge, not on authority, custom, revelation, or prescription.

Abstract: John Stuart Mill was born on 20th May 1806. He was a delicate child, and the extraordinary education designed by his father was not calculated to develop and improve his physical powers. "I never was a boy," he says; "never played cricket." His exercise was taken in the form of walks with his father, during which the elder Mill lectured his son and examined him on his work. It is idle to speculate on the possible results of a different treatment. Mill remained delicate throughout his life, but was endowed with that intense mental energy which is so often combined with physical weakness. His youth was sacrificed to an idea; he was designed by his father to carry on his work; the individuality of the boy was unimportant. A visit to the south of France at the age of fourteen, in company with the family of General Sir Samuel Bentham, was not without its influence. It was a glimpse of another atmosphere, though the studious habits of his home life were maintained. Moreover, he derived from it his interest in foreign politics, which remained one of his characteristics to the end of his life. In 1823 he was appointed junior clerk in the Examiners' Office at the India House.

Abstract: L'oppressione delle donne è una delle poche reliquie rimaste dai tempi antichi, un insieme di pregiudizi che gravemente ostacola il progresso dell'umanità. La donna fa da complemento all'uomo e lo migliora. Deve essere considerata un valore aggiunto al seno di una famiglia e non un animale da dominare, da possedere, da sottomettere.

Abstract: Saggio sulla libertà è la traduzione italiana di On liberty di John Stuart Mill.È uno dei saggi più celebri dell'autore, pubblicato nel 1859, in cui la sua concezione etica dell'utilitarismo viene applicata all'individuo e alla società. Nel tentativo di stabilire un principio saldo sulla relazione tra autorità e libertà, Mill attribuisce all'individuo la libertà di fare tutto quel che vuole o può, a patto di non danneggiare un altro individuo, e cioè a patto di non recare danno alla società; questa ha infatti il diritto di difendersi nel momento in cui la associazione che la costituisce venga messa in pericolo.Mill critica gli errori dei precedenti tentativi compiuti per difendere l'individualità, come ad esempio il ricorso ad ideali democratici, che si risolve sempre, secondo l'autore, in una mera "tirannia della maggioranza". Promotore di un "governo di tutti per tutti", l'autore delinea un'idea di Stato che dovrebbe limitare il meno possibile la libertà degli individui, enfatizzando l'importanza dell'individualità come condizione essenziale per il godimento dei piaceri più elevati (in linea con la gerarchizzazione qualitativa propria del suo utilitarismo). Sottolinea inoltre l'importanza del confronto dialettico nella formazione di un'opinione, di cui il legittimo e insindacabile fondamento si raggiunge unicamente con la piena conoscenza di ciò che afferma l'opposto. Ne deriva che nessuna opinione, vera o falsa che sia, anche quando sia considerata scorretta dalla società, può essere soffocata dall'autorità.L'opera si presenta quindi come una difesa della diversità e della libertà di opinioni, contro l'unanimità e il conformismo, prevedendo per ognuno libertà di coscienza, pensiero ed espressione, libertà di perseguire la felicità e libertà di associarsi. Per questo motivo il libro è considerato un classico del pensiero liberale.John Stuart Mill (Londra, 20 maggio 1806 – Avignone, 8 maggio 1873) è stato un filosofo ed economista britannico, uno dei massimi esponenti del liberalismo e dell'utilitarismo e membro del Partito Liberale.Traduzione italiana di Arnaldo Agnelli.

Abstract: Giovanni Stuart Mill nacque a Londra nel 1806. Il padre di lui, Giacomo Mill, storico ed economista di qualche valore, scolaro di Bentham ed intimo amico di Ricardo, sottopose il suo promettente ingegno ad un sistema di educazione che ne sviluppò assai per tempo le forze: giovinetto ancora, lo Stuart Mill conosceva perfettamente il latino, il greco, la storia, specialmente antica: dopo alcuni mesi passati nel 1820 in Francia, ritornò in patria, studiò filosofia e giurisprudenza, e ottenne, sotto la dipendenza del padre, un posto negli uffici amministrativi della Compagnia delle Indie, che conservò dal 1823 al 1858. Fu, per qualche anno, membro della Camera dei Comuni, mandatovi dagli elettori di Westminster. Ritiratosi negli ultimi anni ad Avignone in Francia, vi moriva nel 1873.