The two most important facts about the life of John Stuart Mill were that he was the son of James Mill and that he fell in love with Harriet Hardy Taylor. We shall begin our story with John Stuart Mill's (hereinafter referred to as “Mill”) relation to his father (hereinafter referred to as “James Mill”).

James Mill was the leader of a group of thinkers, known as the Philosophic Radicals, who were intent upon a vast campaign of social reform. The other key figures included Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo. What prompted their interest in social reform? During the last half of the eighteenth century, Britain had experienced the extraordinary economic transformation of the Industrial Revolution. The revolution succeeded not only in spurring economic growth but also in creating or uncovering an unprecedented number of political, economic, social, moral, and religious problems. The human and moral center of gravity had shifted. Just about every fundamental belief had to be rethought, and most institutions reformed. The story of Mill's life is intimately tied to that reform and to the rethinking of liberal culture.

James Mill had been born in Scotland on April 6, 1773. His father had been a shoemaker. His mother had changed the original family name of Milne. His mother had great ambitions for him, and from the very first James was made to feel that he was superior and the center of attention.