Brand Blanshard, twentieth-century philosophy's greatest exponent of rationalism, here turns his pen to an examination of reasonableness in action, as exemplified in the lives of Marcus Aurelius, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, and (Blanshard's own favorite exemplar of the "rational temper") Henry Sidgwick. Though himself a rationalist, Blanshard was not under the illusion that only avowed rationalists could be reasonable, as his selection of examples clearly shows. In each essay, he presents a lucid and sympathetic account of his subject's life and thought in a seamless combination that deserves to be called "philosophical biography."

While this volume is of course highly informative about each of its four subjects, it also of interest as regards Blanshard's own thought. He was ninety-two years old when he wrote this delightful and highly readable work, and his examinations of these four men distill a lifetime of his own reflections on the role of reason in the ordering of human affairs. A final chapter -- "The enemy: Prejudice" -- summarizes his mature views on the nature and importance of the rational temper.

The entry under Blanshard's name in the _Oxford Companion to Philosophy_ closes on an uncharacteristically personal note: "Blanshard's personal demeanour," writes the entry's author Prof. Peter H. Hare, "was one of extraordinary graciousness." That graciousness, evident throughout his work, is especially so here, where Blanshard deals less directly with philosophical questions and more directly with reasonableness as instantiated in actual human lives; his generosity and sympathy (much neglected rational virtues!) are almost palpable. If the rest of us could absorb something of his rational temper and spirit, our lives and the life of the world would undoubtedly be transformed for the better. And there is no better place to begin than this volume by a great man whose religion was the service of reason.

Wow! Who'd have thought that an author could approach such a topic as "reasonableness" and render it so well-defined, so palatable and so attractive. By using four historical examples, with focus not primarily upon their philosophies, but more upon their lives, Blanshard is masterful. As a noted philosophical and social commentator in his own right, the author does an excellent job of inserting his own interpretation on the four subject persons, and upon their historical & intellectual significance. Last, and maybe most important, is Mr. Blanshard's ability to communicate clearly. As far-fetched as it may sound, this book is truly a page-turner! I'd recommend this to anyone who feels the need for a book that makes you go, "Hmmmm." At the very least, it will leave any reader with an increased appetite for more reasonableness in his/her own life.

My courseload every semester invariably includes an introductory logic course. When I prepare discussion material and examinations in the "informal logic" portion of the course, I like to discuss my ideas with other colleagues. A colleague, an ethicist, asked me if I had read Alican's "Mill's Principle of Utility," as we were discussing examples of logical fallacies committed by prominent philosophers in texts that have come to be regarded as classics. After reading Alican's book, I started to use its relevant chapters as a guide to the topic of fallacies. The response of students was much better to this approach than to the standard practice of identifying fallacies in dozens of short passages. I believe that the book would be useful supplementary/recommended reading material in any introductory logic course.

I came across Alican's "Mill's Principle of Utility" in the library during my preliminary research toward a master's thesis on utilitarianism. The topic I chose covered more than John Stuart Mill's "Utilitarianism," but I found Alican's book immensely useful in developing my understanding of Mill's brand of utilitarianism. Despite its exclusive focus on a narrow albeit important issue, the book also shed light on more general and still controversial topics with respect to utilitarianism. I strongly recommend it to every academician and student interested in ethical theory.

Joseph Hamburger, who passed away in 1997, has left us a rich legacy by virtue of his trenchant analysis of the complete Mill. While most scholars have focused on On Liberty and his essay on Utilitarianism, Hamburger has chosen to focus on the entire corpus of Mill's work.

Hamburger is the only scholar who has successfully argued that Mill, long considered amongst the pantheon of great liberal thinkers, offers us a look at the conservative strain of Mill's thought. This is arrived at through a close textual analysis of Mill's less well-known but no less salient work, thereby giving us a more balanced view of this important 19th century thinker. A must read for those who wish to understand Mill as he understood himself.

Excellent novel. You gotta buy it!

John Stuart Mill sets the stage for all liberal political thought. He discusses such topics as the role of society over the individual, the role of the individual over society, the death penalty, the importance of the individual, the ideal voter, the ideal citizen, the role of women in society, and the importance of personal liberty. Alan Ryan superbly organizes this edition by also including some constructive criticisms of Mill's thought in the last partition. This book is an excellent edition for any student of political philosophy.

I think this book is very useful in helping you deal with the practical debugging in the real world. I have learned a lot from this book. To my curious, the available title by John Stuart Mills in many bookstores are only rubbish such as "on liberty". I really can't understand why they don't re-publish this real classics.

This electronic book is part of the PLEASE COPY THIS DISK collection. The full catalog can be seen online at www.samizdat.com/catalog.html

The material on this diskette is in plain (ASCII) text, formatted for a PC (not Macintosh). You can manipulate it with your favorite word processing program to enhance the format or to print out portions just the way you want.

We provide these texts as they are found on the Internet. We do no additional editing. We believe the people who originally input or scanned these texts made every effort to be accurate. But we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

Please accept these texts "as is," in the spirit of sharing which prevails on the Internet. (If for any reason you are not satisfied with a disk which you purchased directly from us, you may return it for replacement or refund.)

We encourage you to become an active participant on the Internet. We believe that by providing you with this service, by helping you easily get the information that is most improtant to you, we free you up to engage in the exciting and creative opportunities offered by the Internet, instead of being bogged down in the time-consuming chores of hunting and downloading.

Remember, much of the value of having public-domain texts on computer disk comes from the ability to copy them. For example, those of you who are teachers can: 1) use a disk as a substitute textbook -- have all your students bring in their own blank disks and make copies at your computer center or library; 2) take texts from several disks and make your own anthology, as easily as you might make a "mix" of your favorite music.

Remember that the disks you buy and the anthologies you compile also benefit the rest of your department, who in turn can do what they want with their copies. And remember that you can reuse these texts in the same manner for years to come.

Richard Seltzer, B&R Samizdat Express, seltzer@samizdat.com

John Stuart Mill was one of the leading thinkers of the beginning of the 19th century in almost all fields of scientific interest. Closely educated by his father James Mill he acquires an astounding knowledge of philosophy, economy, psychology and whatever one calls education at that time. As he says in the book, he was far ahead (25 years) of people his age. In all of his modesty (he thought he was only average in matter of intelectual powers)he lists that he began to learn Greek by 3, Latin by 7 and so on. The result for the Sociological Sciences was the work done in many fields and most notably in Economy and Philosophy. But, what was the outcome of all this to the man John Stuart Mill? Did he enjoy himself doing what he did? Did he find his father had educated right?
Just read the book and find for yourself.

In my estimation, John Stuart Mill is one of the great great geniuses in history. He is in that top echelon (from what I've read) right up there with Aristotle, David Hume, and Ayn Rand. There is alot to learn from reading his writing, both in terms of content, and most importantly, method. His approach is to see all sides, be open to new evidence, and honestly search after truth.

In this concise 205 page autobiography, Mill gives us a mainly intellectual autobiography of his intellectual development and his writings, as well as the tremendous influence of his father, James Mill, and his wife and most intimate friend, Harriet Taylor. What I got it from it was a picture of a man constantly growing, constantly open to learning, honest, searching, willing to be fallible, and desiring to know the truth. I don't agree with some of Mill's conclusions concerning socialism and probably some others, but I have the utmost respect for the his reasoning ability and intellectual honesty. This book touched me far deeper than did Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography because while Franklin just seems to relate his own life and events, there seems to be more relection and insight in Mill. As someone who has only read "On Liberty" and "Utilitarianism", this is also a great introduction to Mill's thought because he discusess all his writings and he gives alot of background in terms of what was going on his life, in the times, etc... Brand Blanshard wrote a book entitled "Four Reasonable Men" and John Stuart Mill was one of them; I couldn't agree more.

Greg Feirman...

Rivels the great philosophical autobiographies of all time: namely, Rousseau, Ben Franklin, Sartre, Russell. The book is a fascinating inspiration; responsible for my decision to change my college major to philosophy, politics, and economics. To criticize the work is to not understand it.

The editor of this collection states that when read together, the four essays contained in this Oxford World's Classics edition reveal Mill to be an organized thinker on par with Marx. I'm not quite so sure of that, but I will say the collections feels thematically consistant and well thought out. Readers should not be scared off because Mill is considered a "classic" text. The tone of these essays, with the possible exception of "Utilitarianism" is pretty light, and Mill even occassionally makes an effort to crack a joke. In "On Liberty" and "Utilitarianism" we see an abstract breakdown of his belief structure where he tries to answer questions like, "When is it justified for government to interfere in individuals lives?" and "What is the overarching goal of society?" After he attempts to answer these questions he gets more specific by applying the principles to how government should operate in "Representative Government" and in "The Subjection of Women". Some concepts now outdated, but on the whole, still a relativly strong argument. It is particularly frustrating to see Mill talking about proportional representation in "Represenative Government" and knowing that the logic of that argument has still not made much headway here in the United States well over a hundred years later. Mill's systematic thinking makes this collection worth owning.

John Stuart Mill's chief concern is how individual liberty, which he held to be paramount, can be reconciled with public utility or, in other words, in delineating the tensions that arise between the public and private sphere in modern society. He expounds, with much clarity and insight, the feasability, as well as the desirability, of state intervention in the affairs of individuals. He defines freedom, above all, to be the freedom to think and act as one sees right (provided that this does not encroach on the rights of others). His essay "Utilitarianism", is an incisive explication of the philosophy of utilitarianism developed by Mill's father, James Mill and the jurist and philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, which holds "the greatest happiness for the greatest number" as the chief aim of social organisation. "On Representative Government", which should not be mistaken for direct democracy (rule of the people by the people) he covers the mechanisms of state action. "On the Subjection of Women" reveals Mill to have been one of the pioneering feminists, as his arguments for the emancipation of women continue to be adduced by leading feminist philosophers today. Admittedly, one cannot agree with Mill on everything. This is because the "liberalism" of the nineteenth century, with its stress on work, discipline and duty, is almost totally opposed to the "open-minded" liberalism of today. Furthermore, Mill's theories are filled with flaws. Nevertheless, these essays are documents of profound importance and relevance and repay close study.

If confronted with the question: "To what extent, if any, and probably for what purpose can society as a body, interfere with the liberty of the individual?" The answer is probably, never. Oh well, one clear answer to this infinitely incomprehensible question was provided in the 19th century by John Stuart Mill in this classic writing On Liberty. JSM is the grand papa of what is modern Liberalism. We may not agree with Mill, but if we are to agree or disagree, it is best to first go back to the source. In a sense, Mill comes from the position that restraints always tend to stifle individuality. Freedom is the default, to stifle the abberation. If there is a call to interfere, there had better be a real good reason. Mill, however, does not have his head in the clouds but he does have a blanket statement that could use some complexity. Mill is of the reasoning that society is in the right to interfere with individual liberty only if harm is done or threatened to others. This is, of course, an over simplification. Mill further elaborates with a sense of paternalism and what seems like a progressive attitude about the rights of all people and the disutility of unfair treatment. It is not an easy read but it is a lucid one. In Mill's view, Harm, or the threat of harm, only brings conduct into public realm by (relating back to Plato) a prima facie condition to intervene. A foundational piece and a staple for the Humanities. To engage in the discourse of Mill is to step in the realm of Public contra Private.

Miguel Llora

Now that Amazon has changed the product description and recognized that it is soft cover, I can, perhaps, give a decent review.

The text is, as are all Mill's writings, quite good. Regardless as to your agreement or disagreement, it cannot be argued that Mill does not present his points clearly, logically, and understandably. The editor's introduction is nice, though short. It is also nice that Mill's speech regarding capitial punishment was included as an appendix.

The actual binding is rather flimsy, but for this low price, I'll not complain too loudly.

_Utilitarianism_ is, despite the train-wreck of the fourth chapter, one of the clearest expositions of ethical theory ever written. Anyone interested in ethics in general, or utilitarianism in particular, should be familiar with it. But then, you already knew that.

As far as specifics regarding this edition: It is offered without introduction, conclusion, analytical remarks, historical context, or any of the other chaff that tends to build up around great texts. I find this refreshing; some may find it disappointing. Unfortunately, like all the books I've ever bought from the Prometheus press, it is very poorly bound. On the other hand, because this little volume is so slim (<100 pages), it is at lesser risk of falling apart, or loosing pages.

If you want to read Mill in a solid, cheap edition, this copy is perfect. If you want an edition that will not crumble to powder within the next 60 years, look elsewhere.

As usual, Oxford put out another great edited classic work. J. S. Mill's Utilitarianism can be sometimes confusing, and as Roger Crisp notes, even scholars disagree on what Mill thought. Nevertheless, this book gives you a good introduction to Mill's thought prior to reading the actual text, Utilitarianism.

For example, I was able to converse with friends in the philosophy program about Mill's ethical theory without even reading his text; but I did read Crisp's edited notes about it. So I applaud Crisp for doing a good job on that. He also includes a summary of each paragraph for every chapter in outline form (located before the text). This was extremely helpful to me.

Located in the back of the work, like other Oxford editions, were text references that clarified persons who Mill spoke of, referred to, etc. It also clarified difficult passages (most of them anyways).

About Mill's ethical theory, you will have to read him yourself to come to a conclusion. I think the guy was totally wrong, but I'm not criticizing him; I'm reviewing this book :) But I should add that Crisp tries to deal with most of the criticisms (some of which are good responses) so that you can read Mill as charitable as possible.

Because of the work put into clarifying Mill, I highly recommend this book.