John Stuart Mill,

John Stuart Mill

Adam Azano Satrio, 0906522861

The first thing I must think before I give opinion about John Stuart Mill, I must think about his main theory in mind. I assume all of us understand about dualism in Descartes theory, and the main problem with his theory is, how we can assure that other mind is only exist? With his statement “Cogito Ergo Sum” we only can guarantee that our mind is exist, as long we think, but what other person mind? Are their mind are truly exist? This problem is the one that Mill wants to answer.

            Mill answers this problem with some unique logic. The first of all he use the opposite way how to verify that mind is exist, if Descartes use doubting to doubt everything until we got conclusion that we can’t doubt our min, Mill use the feeling, where this logic give us a reason to give chance that the other mind can exist because it have a similar way to response with many phenomena, is the reason why we can assure that someone is in sad if he crying, or someone is happy by seeing his smiling. The other one, is using the similarity of our body anatomy with the other anatomy, this give us a reason why we can believe that the other has a possibility to have a mind, and the last problem is we can assure that the other have mind, but how we can sure that the other is exist with his own ego, because it possible that is automaton. Mill gives the simple answer, just “a simple” objection from the other is the proof that the other is not an automaton.

            I must agree with his theory, because it give us reason to acknowledge the existing of the other mind, and I also interesting with his argument that tell us that, rationality is the only proof that our mind is exist, but something like feeling, that also give us proof that our mind is exist. Why I said that is interesting, because in his era, rationality, that have strong link to mind, is always talking about something ideal, something transcendent, and always doubt about feeling, but Mill change this way of think. His theory give us some reason why we must think that different is something normal, and we must respect the different.

            His theory about mind is only can be break if there is some automatons that also have ability to objection about something and can have ability to feeling. I found this is a reasonable, because technology and robotic science always want to make robots that have same A.I. like a human being.