Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Childhood and Early Education: The Great Experiment (1806–1820)
- 2 Company Man and Youthful Propagandist (1821–1826)
- 3 Crisis (1826–1830)
- 4 The Discovery of Romance and Romanticism (1830–1840)
- 5 The Transitional Essays
- 6 Intellectual Success (1840–1845)
- 7 Worldly Success (1846–1850)
- 8 Private Years (1850–1859)
- 9 The Memorial Essays
- 10 Public Intellectual (1859–1869)
- 11 Last Years (1869–1873)
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Intellectual Success (1840–1845)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Childhood and Early Education: The Great Experiment (1806–1820)
- 2 Company Man and Youthful Propagandist (1821–1826)
- 3 Crisis (1826–1830)
- 4 The Discovery of Romance and Romanticism (1830–1840)
- 5 The Transitional Essays
- 6 Intellectual Success (1840–1845)
- 7 Worldly Success (1846–1850)
- 8 Private Years (1850–1859)
- 9 The Memorial Essays
- 10 Public Intellectual (1859–1869)
- 11 Last Years (1869–1873)
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By the early 1840s, a balding Mill was still taking long walks on Sunday, which he claimed was the time that he did his best thinking. He also characterized the period from 1830 to 1840 as the final stage in the maturation of his thought. Writing in his Autobiography, he said that
from this time [1840], what is worth relating of my life will come into a very small compass; for I have no further mental changes to tell of, but only, I hope, a continued mental progress; which does not admit of a consecutive history, and the results of which, if real, will be best found in my writings. I shall, therefore, greatly abridge the chronicle of my subsequent years.
The decade from 1840 to 1850 is the period during which Mill made his mark and achieved an eminence that transcended the fact that he was James Mill's son. Two important publications marked his emergence as a major independent thinker: A System of Logic (1843) and the Principles of Political Economy (1848). The first work established the authoritative methodological basis from which he could express his public policy positions, and the second reflected his most profound thoughts on the major social issues of his time.
Logic
Having put the Review behind him in 1838, Mill turned his attention to a project about which he had been thinking for some time. As far back as 1829, Mill had conceived the idea of writing a book on logic.
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- Information
- John Stuart MillA Biography, pp. 157 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004