Utilitarianism and on Liberty - 2nd Edition by John Stuart Mill (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Including three of his most famous and important essays, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, and Essay on Bentham, along with formative selections from Jeremy Bentham and John Austin, this volume provides a uniquely perspicuous view of Mill's ethical and political thought.

• Contains Mill's most famous and influential works, Utilitarianism and On Liberty as well as his important Essay on Bentham.
  
• Uses the 1871 edition of Utilitarianism, the last to be published in Mill's lifetime.
  
• Includes selections from Bentham and John Austin, the two thinkers who most influenced Mill.
  
• Introduction written by Mary Warnock, a highly respected figure in 20th-century ethics in her own right.
  
• Provides an extensive, up-to-date bibliography with the best scholarship on Mill, Bentham and Utilitarianism.

From the Back Cover

This book combines John Stuart Mill's key writings, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, and "Essay on Bentham", with formative selections from Mill's greatest influences, Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. The collection provides a thorough and perspicuous view of Mill's thought, further enriched by a discerning introduction from renowned ethics scholar Mary Warnock.

Offering indispensable insight into one of the most profound and influential thinkers in Western philosophy, this volume has been designed to support new scholarship on John Stuart Mill, while an extensive bibliography of the best scholarship on Mill, Bentham, and Utilitarianism makes this book exceptionally useful for students.

Review Quotes

"Anyone interested in the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill will be pleased to have the essential readings in one volume and grateful to Mary Warnock for her informative and insightful introduction." William H. Shaw, San Jose State University

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

"The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection." John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

About the Author

Mary Warnock (1924 - 2019) was an English moral philosopher and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge from 1984 until 1991. She was made a life peer in 1985 and given the title Baroness Warnock of Weeke in the City of Winchester. She was the author of numerous books, including Ethics Since 1900 (1960), The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre (1963), Existentialist Ethics (1966), Existentialism (1970), An Intelligent Person's Guide to Ethics (2000), Dishonest to God: On Keeping Religion Out of Politics (2010), and Critical Reflections on Ownership (2015). She is widely regarded as a trailblazer for establishing ethical frameworks around deeply controversial issues such as special needs education and human fertility treatments, and is credited with laying the blueprint for regulatory policymaking in these areas.