Human Nature and the Development of Character: The Clash of Descriptive and Normative Elements in John Stuart Mill's Educational Theory

Abstract

John Stuart Mill" s ideas concerning character development as a central educational aim ex pressed a widely held ideal of his age, that through education man could rise above his nature and become a fully developed human being at one with himself and at the same time committed to the welfare of his fellows. It is an ideal to which politicians and educators. Particularly in today's climate of economic difficult y and apparent social disharmony have continued to cling. For Mill as indeed for contemporary educational theorists character development was to be based firmly on a science of man and human development. This paper examines the relationship between Mill 's normative goals and his pedagogical science and following an analysis of the centrally important issue of freedom versus determinism. concludes that Mill 's normative ideals were, in fact, unrelated to and certainly could not be realized within the framework of his descriptive theory of man.