John Stuart Mill on the Political Significance of Higher Education

Abstract While a number of recent studies highlight John Stuart Mill’s role as a “teacher of the people,” his reflections upon the political significance of higher education have received relatively little attention. I argue that Mill’s 1867 St. Andrews Address was both a defense of liberal education against influential arguments for religion- and science-based models of higher education, and a call for elites educated in reformed universities to shape a public vision for the construction of a polity committed to liberal principles. I conclude that Mill’s St. Andrews Address can contribute to debates about the role of the university in contemporary liberal societies.