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Part 8

page 94/124

490 personality imflo!em consequences and a more elevated view, both on the individual himself, and on the conditions of existence and development of the individual in societies®: Bentham’s mechanical ‘individualism’ is refined in Stuart Mill into individualism, in which the political community is no longer considered as a mechanical sum of individuals, craving a quantitative predominance of their benefit and united for this in a political community, but individuals bound by political and social solidarity and cooperation. Mill tries to explain how, in existence, the centrifugal properties of the individual are coordinated with the pentrostimulant ones. Why does he resort not only to psychological analysis, but also to a systematic generalization of historical observations on the effects of political forms of such coordination. This is the subject of an unusually meaningful part of his introduction to the treatise “Op Shegbu”, which has not yet been surpassed in conciseness and completeness. Drawing on historical observations, Mill touches on an idea that appears in his still unclear outlines, an idea of ​​development. Already for him it has an important meaning both in the formation of individuality, and in the transformation of forms of cohabitation, and in the emphasis on the specific relationship between individuals. It serves him to clarify the aforementioned coordination of the centrifugal and centripetal properties of the individual. Thanks to the development of socialistic teachings, in the first half of the 19th century, starting with Saint-Simon, Millu. whoever strived for an accurate and comprehensive observation, it was impossible not to pay attention, when examining the mentioned coordinate, to the social circles into which an individual enters with various aspects of his life and activity. It is important to pay attention to the individual’s relationship not only to property and the state, but also to the individual’s relationship to society. We have already noted the origins and outlines of understanding this concept in Thomas Pan and in the revolutionary doctrines, concepts, which provoked Bentham's attacks due to their vagueness. In Mill, however, it is not yet precisely defined, but its contours are quite smooth. In any case, what needs to be noted for our topic is that Mill has the merit in political philosophy that he clarified the meaning of society precisely in connection with the freedom of the individual.

Freedom, the individual, a term so hateful to Bentham’s narrow view, in Mill’s writings receives its more or less defined content, which is also accepted by the modern science of public law. In the same way, the terms “justice” and “right” were partially rehabilitated and clarified, along with the term “individual freedom” by Bentham’s critic.

We have outlined here a further movement and expansion of Mill's utilitarian individualism, before we engage in a concrete presentation of his views that are relevant to the subject of our study. In view of the accessibility of Mill's works to the Russian reader, of which the main thing that defines the era in the development of the individualistic direction is “On the Run,” we can limit ourselves to presenting the most significant of these views, turning our attention to them. establishing their connection with the underlying currents of individualism.