Week 8: Understanding Values
Read and respond to John Stuart Mill, "On Nature." This will be a difficult essay for you to read if you do not scan the essay first (jump from paragraph to paragraph to pick up the thesis or topic sentences) and scan to the end. For example, Mill does not even state the purpose of his essay until the top of page 11:
The examination of this notion is the object of the present Essay. It is proposed to inquire into the truth of the doctrines which make Nature a test of right and wrong,
good and evil, or which in any mode or degree attach merit or approval to following, imitating, or obeying Nature.
There is a reference late in the essay to a highly preferred human attribute--interpersonal consistency. Quote his specific language (sincerity) in your response to the reading assignment.
Then, write your essay on human nature.