These papers on key issues in intellectual history derive from those delivered at a conference held at the University of Toronto in May 1973 to honour the bicentenary of James Mill's birth and the centenary of John Stuart Mill's death.
Nine authorities -- J.H. Burns, Karl W. Britton, J.B. Schneewind, George J. Stigler, Samuel Hollander, L.S. Feuer, Joseph Hamburger, Edward Alexander, and John M. Robson -- were invited to discuss what they took to be significant aspects of the thought of the two Mills.
While history, philosophy, economics, social science, and the history of thought were the focal points for the conference, the contributors were free to choose their own topics and approaches. One of the most striking aspects of Mill scholarship that emerges in this volume is the applicability of their ideas to modern problems.
These papers are not final assessments; they are individual and independent contributions to Mill studies that clearly show the vitality of both Mill's thought and the certainty that it will continue to influence and change the ways in which we think about the human condition.