ABSTRACT
In the Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy John Rawls approach to John Stuart Mill, in particular to Mill's conception of the relation between utility and liberty, is informed, thoughtful and sympathetic. Clearly Rawls sympathises with Mill's general aim. He might well see his own work as having the same aim. Rawls takes Mill at his word when the latter says that the underlying philosophical ground for the Liberty Principle is utilitarianism, rather than any theory of natural rights. Rawls believes his principles of justice as fairness can be justified from a variety of reasonable ethical positions, of which utilitarianism is one, though only one. This, if true, would greatly add to their stability. Rawls accepts that utilitarianism is a "reasonable" ethical position, though he does not endorse it, and he accepts that utilitarianism could form part of an overlapping consensus on Mill's principles of justice and liberty.
