Customer Reviews (3)

A Great Read for Bad Times
This is a book to be read and reread every few years.With all the irrationality in the world today, this book gives one hope. It's hard to pick a favorate but I've reread the chapters on Marcus Aurelius and John Stuart Mill many times with great pleasure.Blanchard's ideas as well as his beautiful literary style and wonderful story telling are amazing.It's not often that a book about ideas is also a great read.

A triumph by this century's greatest rationalist
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 "rationaltemper") Henry Sidgwick. Though himself a rationalist, Blanshard wasnot under the illusion that only avowed rationalists could be reasonable,as his selection of examples clearly shows. In each essay, he presents alucid and sympathetic account of his subject's life and thought in aseamless combination that deserves to be called "philosophicalbiography."

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

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

An easy read of a complex topic, this is worth seeking.
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. ... Read more

Product Description
Volume 1 features Mill's Autobiography as well as related essays which together paint a balanced picture of his early life, including his rigorous 'home schooling' at the hands of his father, James Mill, and the emotional crisis of his early adulthood. Such insights are a wonderful primer for later substantive volumes of Mill's work and shed light on the character of nineteenth-century Britain's foremost liberal intellectual. This volume was assembled under the direction of Professor John M Robson of the University of Toronto and includes such rare material as Mill's childhood writings, examples of his early articles published in such journals as "The Westminster Review" and the "London Review", and a youthful critique of his father's philosophical contributions. ... Read more

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One of the foremost figures of Western intellectual thought in the late 19th century, John Stuart Mill offered up examinations of human rights, personal and societal rights and responsibilities, and the striving for individual happiness that continue to impact our philosophies, both private and political, to this day.At the time of his death in 1873, Mill was planning a comprehensive critique of 19th-century socialism: he died before he could write much toward this project. But a few introductory chapters survived. First appearing in published form in the Fortnightly Review in early 1879, these writings explore Mill's ideas on the socialist objections to 19th-century society, the difficulties of socialism, concepts of private property, and more.English philosopher and politician JOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873) served as an administrator in the East Indian Company from 1823 to 1858, and as a member of parliament from 1865 to 1868. Among his essays on a wide range of political and social thought are Principles of Political Economy (1848), Considerations on Representative Government (1861), and The Subjection of Women (1869). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mill and Socialism
Short and well written.Mill has been called by some a socialist.This work refutes such a claim.Rather than summarize the book, I recommend you buy it and read it. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Power relationships
In former ages the law of superior strength was the law of life.Spartan women were more free to act than others and were trained in physical exercise.Women, like royalty,are born to the status.Male human beings are not under legal ban.The social subordination of women is a relic of old thought.

What is called the nature of women is an artificial thing.Literary women are becoming more free-spoken.Women resemble sailors in a press gang.A wife acts for the children through delegation of the husband.Husband and wife are one, and the husband is the one.Actual treatment may be better than the legal position indicates.A wife has means of retaliation at her disposal for mistreatment.Inequality does not depend upon the law of marriage but rather the general society.

Mill argues for the fitness of women to vote and to participate in theprofessions.Women's relative lack of intellectual and artistic achievement is explicable in terms of deficiencies in education and opportunity.Women are frequently held to be advantaged morally.Mill recognizes that personal independence is an element of happiness.

This remains a compelling work detailing regrettable recent history and the reasons a change in the status of women was inevitable.The reasoning is forceful, clear and balanced.Mill achieves a sort of perfection in this small book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This printing is GARBAGE.
I agree with the first reviewer.Mill's work is spectacular, but this printing is an INSULT to a great thinker and human being.The text is barely legible, and in the copy I received a number of pages had the text cropped off on the left side.Unbelievable that anyone thinks they can sell this for 40 dollars!It's really a disgrace.I would have written to the publisher, but I didn't see an address.Pitiful, just pitiful.

They really should offer a "Look Inside"...
Then you'd get some idea how badly your eyes would hurt trying to read this reprint.The quality is horrible, just horrible.It reminds me of the first faxes I saw (back in the 80s, right?).That being said, everyone should have a copy of this book, and (ever the optimist) the poor quality of print forces you to read slowly which is something the material in this book cries for on its own.Do not rely on the received view of Mill, especially the view propogated by Frege, Ayer, Russell, et al. that Mill held the bizarre view that at some point 2+2 might not =4.Read what he actually says for yourself!In the end, I'm grateful to have my own personal copy of this unsung classic of philosophy; so grateful, in fact, that I don't have too much heartburn over having paid a pretty penny for a crappy reprint.Still, the print of this edition (the only other edition I've seen is one from around 1900), is so poor, I have to give this edition (the yellow cover w/ full title) only 2 stars.So, I'd probably try the other edition first, but if this was the only one I could get, I'd still get it just for the value of having Mill's own words at my beck and call. ... Read more

Product Description
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the philosophy of John Stuart Mill has never been more relevant. Can we reconcile individual liberty with the demands of the common good? John Fitzpatrick argues that, properly understood, Mill's liberal utilitarianism can indeed support a system of rights rich enough to guarantee individual liberty. Combining fresh interpretations of Mill's writings on ethics, politics, and political economy with the historical Mill that can found in his autobiography, the book will be of substantial interest to a wide audience. ... Read more

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More than two hundred years after his birth, and 150 years after the publication of his most famous essay On Liberty, John Stuart Mill remains one of the towering intellectual figures of the Western tradition. This book combines an up-to-date assessment of the philosophical legacy of Mill’s arguments, his complex version of liberalism and his account of the relationship between character and ethical and political commitment. Bringing together key international and interdisciplinary scholars, including Martha Nussbaum and Peter Singer, this book combines the latest insights of Mill scholarship with a long-term appraisal of the ways in which Mill’s work has been received and interpreted from the time of his death in 1873 to today.

The book offers compelling insights into Mill’s posthumous fate and reputation; his youthful political and intellectual activism; his views on the formation of character; the development of his thought on logic; his differences from his father and Bentham; his astonishingly prescient, environmentally sensitive and ‘green’ thought; his relation to virtue ethics; his conception of higher pleasures and its relation to his understanding of justice; his feminist thought and its place in contemporary debates and feminist discourses; his defence of free speech and its fundamental significance for his liberalism; and his continued contemporary relevance on a number of major issues.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Politics, Political Theory, Philosophy, History, English, Psychology, and also Cultural Studies, Empire studies, nationalism and ethnicity studies.

Product Description
The arguments advanced in the second chapter of On Liberty (1859) have become the touchstone for practically every discussion of freedom of speech, yet the broader development of John Stuart Mill's ideas concerning intellectual liberty has generally been neglected. This work attempts to fill that lacuna by looking beyond On Liberty, in order to understand the evolution of Mill's ideas concerning freedom of thought and discussion. ... Read more

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The cloud which for the space of a month hung gloomily over the civilized world, black with far worse evils than those of simple war, has passed from over our heads without bursting. The fear has not been realized, that the only two first-rate Powers who are also free nations would take to tearing each other in pieces, both the one and the other in a bad and odious cause. For while, on the American side, the war would have been one of reckless persistency in wrong, on ours it would have been a war in alliance with, and, to practical purposes, in defence and propagation of, slavery. We had, indeed, been wronged. We had suffered an indignity, and something more than an indignity, which, not to have resented, would have been to invite a constant succession of insults and injuries from the same and from every other quarter. We could have acted no otherwise than we have done: yet it is impossible to think, without something like a shudder, from what we have escaped. We, the emancipators of the slave--who have wearied every Court and Government in Europe and America with our protests and remonstrances, until we goaded them into at least ostensibly coöperating with us to prevent the enslaving of the negro--we, who for the last half century have spent annual sums, equal to the revenue of a small kingdom, in blockading the African coast, for a cause in which we not only had no interest, but which was contrary to our pecuniary interest, and which many believed would ruin, as many among us still, though erroneously, believe that it has ruined, our colonies,--_we_ should have lent a hand to setting up, in one of the most commanding positions of the world, a powerful republic, devoted not only to slavery, but to pro-slavery propagandism--should have helped to give a place in the community of nations to a conspiracy of slave-owners, who have broken their connection with the American Federation on the sole ground, ostentatiously proclaimed, that they thought an attempt would be made to restrain, not slavery itself, but their purpose of spreading slavery wherever migration or force could carry it.


Download The Contest In AmericaNow! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: Longmans, Green; Publication date: 1888; Subjects: Logic; Philosophy / General; Philosophy / Logic; Philosophy / History ... Read more