John Stuart Mill

For første gang foreligger The Subjection of Women fra 1869 i norsk oversettelse. Dette er en klassiker både innenfor det feministiske og det liberalistiske tankeunivers. Verket er lettlest, viktig, tankevekkende og morsomt. Mill tar tak i prinsipielle, men også helt konkrete problemer knyttet til kjønnsrollene. Det er på mange måter et merkelig verk med en blanding av beskrivelser, analyse og synsing, noe som blir tydelig i diskusjonene rundt hva som er .naturlig.. I sin framsynthet makter han å overskride det hundre og femti år lange spennet mellom egen tid og vår. Med sin fengende og samtidig grundige stil artikulerer Mill en feministisk, liberal posisjon som er et høyst relevant bidrag i dagens diskusjoner rundt forholdet mellom kjønnene. Kvinneundertrykkelsen kaster lys over et svært viktig spørsmål for den feministiske bevegelsen i et moderne liberalt demokrati: Spørsmålet om hvorvidt kampen for kvinnesak og likestilling kan skjøttes tilstrekkelig gjennom en liberal, egalitær rettighetslovgivning slik den kommer til uttrykk for eksempel gjennom allmenn stemmerett og begge kjønns prinsipielle adgang til enhver posisjon eller levevei, eller om mer radikale, positive tiltak er nødvendige for å få nevneverdig bevegelse i fastsatte kjønnsroller.

A prodigiously brilliant thinker who sharply challenged the beliefs of his age, the political and social radical John Stuart Mill was the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century. Regarded as one of the sacred texts of liberalism, his great work On Liberty argues lucidly that any democracy risks becoming a 'tyranny of opinion' in which minority views are suppressed if they do not conform with those of the majority. Written in the same period as On Liberty, shortly after the death of Mill's beloved wife and fellow-thinker Harriet, The Subjection of Women stresses the importance of equality for the sexes. Together, the works provide a fascinating testimony to the hopes and anxieties of mid-Victorian England, and offer a compelling consideration of what it truly means to be free.

Mills Verteidigung der utilitaristischen Theorie, dass die Beförderung des allgemeinen Glücks das erste und einzige Kriterium des moralischen Handelns sei, gehört zu den am häufigsten diskutierten, aber auch zu den am häufigsten kritisierten moralphilosophischen Werken. Der erstmals 1861 veröffentlichte Text erscheint hier als zweisprachige Ausgabe - ergänzt durch einen Zeilenkommentar und einem Nachwort.

First published in 1848, 'Principles of Political Economy' established Mill as a leading economic thinker of his time, and this work endured as the principal economics textbook for the balance of the nineteenth century. As a comprehensive treatment of economic thought, the book touches on the full range of micro- and macroeconomic topics, including taxation, national debt, and theories of money, production, and prices. Volumes 2 and 3 are based on the seventh and final edition of this work published by Mill in 1871. Professor Robson and his editorial team allow the reader to seamlessly track the changes made through all seven editions of Principles of Political Economy, providing insight into the development of Mill's economic ideas.

Volumes 7 and 8 comprise Mill's landmark philosophical work 'A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive', in which Mill explores the basic principles of inductive reasoning. In this work Mill presents the five basic modes of induction, which are now known as Mill's Methods: the method of agreement, the method of difference, the joint or double method of agreement, the method of residues, and that of concomitant variations. In contrast to Aristotle's syllogisms, which are based on deductive reasoning, Logic provides an alternate path to knowledge and constitutes an important contribution to the development of the scientific method.

Volumes 4 and 5 bring together a rich collection of Mill's writing on politics and the economy over the course of his intellectual career. Volume 4 includes, most significantly, 'Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy'. Here, Mill grapples with issues related to foreign trade and the balancing of government's goal of promoting free trade with its interest in raising revenues from import duties and tariffs. Also included in these volumes are such early essays as 'The Silk Trade' and 'The Nature, Origin, and Progress of Rent' and such later works as Mill's petition on free trade and 'Chapters on Socialism' (posthumously published).