ABSTRACT
The masterly and mature exposition of opinions held by a small group in advance of their time will sometimes have a formative influence over the mind of succeeding generations greater than the thought of an original thinker of the first rank. John Stuart Mill belongs to this class. Mill became known as one of the leading thinkers of his time by the publication of his System of Logic. When he published Considerations on Representative Government, Mill was already a famous man. He started as the product and most faithful disciple of his father who was the most active and forceful expositor of Benthamite utilitarianism. Though utilitarianism would continue to provide the general mental framework of his thought, Mill incorporated into it suggestions derived from Saint-Simonian socialism and Comtean positivism over the following years. The publication in 1865 of Mill's biggest and least read philosophical work, an Examination of Sir W. Hamilton's Philosophy concluded this period of great productivity.
