Commentary

• Ethical Studies

  - Bradley, Francis Herbert. Ethical Studies. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1876.
  F.H. Bradley presents his criticism to the utilitarianism of Mill and Sidgwick. Bradley argues for a Hegelian position that emphasizes the importance of social relations.

• The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism

  - Halevy, Elie. The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism. Trans. M. Morris, with preface by A. D. Lindsay, London: Faber and Faber, 1934.
  This is still one of the best discussions of the 19th century Utilitarian movement in England, covering the rise of the Benthamites and the conflict between the growing economic philosophy and older philosophies that emphasized human and social values. Halevy… More

• The English Utilitarians

  - Plamenatz, John. The English Utilitarians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949.
  John Plamenatz provides a classic study of the English doctrine of utilitarianism. Chapters are devoted to important figures in the movement such as Hume, Bentham, James Mill, and John Stuart Mill. The treatment addresses the philosophical and psychological… More

• The Improvement of Mankind

  - Robson, John M. The Improvement of Mankind. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968.
  John M. Robson, compiler of the Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, provides an account of the unity underlying the writings of John Stuart Mill. The work shows the continuities and differences between Mill and his predecessors, the Philosophical Radicals.

• On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

  - Himmelfarb, Gertrude. On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf, 1974.
  From the publisher: If our politics is rife with contradictions and dead ends, as many today believe, then the intellectual origins of this crisis may be found in the key document of modern political thought: John Stuart Mill’s classic On Liberty. In… More

• Women in Western Political Philosophy

  - Okin, Susan. Women in Western Political Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
  From the publisher: In this pathbreaking study of the works of Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Mill, Susan Moller Okin turns to the tradition of political philosophy that pervades Western culture and its institutions to understand why the gap between formal… More

• That Noble Science of Politics: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History

  - Burrow, John, and Stefan Collini and Donald Winch.  That Noble Science of Politics: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  From the publisher: In this unusual and important work, three well-known historians of ideas examine the diverse forms taken in nineteenth-century Britain by the aspiration to develop what was then known as a ‘science of politics’. This aspiration… More

• The Economics of John Stuart Mill

  - Hollander, Samuel. The Economics of John Stuart Mill, 2 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
  From the publisher: J.S. Mill plays a central role in the development of classical political economy in the nineteenth century. Hollander follows the course of that development over fifty years of Mill’s career, from the death of David Ricardo in 1823… More

• Science and British Liberalism: Locke, Bentham, Mill and Popper

  - Jacobs, Struan. Science and British Liberalism: Locke, Bentham, Mill and Popper. Avebury: Aldershot, 1991.
  From the publisher: British liberal philosophy is widely regarded as a tradition that has been shaped by science and philosophy of science. Through detailed study of writings by Locke, Bentham, Mill, and Popper on epistemology, politics and related subjects,… More

• Aristocratic Liberalism: The Social and Political Thought of Jacob Burckhardt, John Stuart Mill, and Alexis de Tocqueville

  - Kahan, Alan S. Aristocratic Liberalism: The Social and Political Thought of Jacob Burkhardt, John Stuart Mill, and Alexis de Toqueville. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  “Liberalism” is widely used to describe a variety of social and political ideas, but has been an especially difficult concept for historians and political scientists to define. Burckhardt, Mill, and Tocqueville define one type of liberal thought.… More

• The Cambridge Companion to John Stuart Mill

  - Skorupski, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to John Stuart Mill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  From the publisher: “John Stuart Mill was one of the greatest thinkers of the nineteenth century. His impact on modern culture and thought has been immense, and his continuing importance for contemporary philosophy and social thought is widely… More

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

  - Smith, G. W., “John Stuart Mill, On Liberty.” In J. J. E. Gracia, G. M. Reichberg, and B. M. Schumacher, eds., The Classics of Western Philosophy: A Reader's Guide, Oxford: Blackwell, 2003, pp. 395-404.
  The Classics of Western Philosophy brings together 61 essays on classic texts ranging from Ancient Greece to the twentieth century. Surveying the history of philosophy, the book focuses on historical texts rather than historical figures and covers the entire… More