People
Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it, than is ever likely to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom.- John Stuart Mill
Harriet Taylor Mill wrote primarily in the area of social-political philosophy, and had a particular interest in women's rights, but—her essay, “The Enfranchisement of Women” notwithstanding—the body of work that she penned is probably not substantial enough for her to be judged a major figure in the history of philosophy on the basis of it alone. However, John Stuart Mill, her second husband, not only lavished praise on her intellect, emotional depth, and moral character, but also credited her with exerting a tremendous influence on his thought, with making major intellectual contributions to many of the works published in his name, and even with having been intimately involved in the composition of some of his most important works. Today scholars debate how much of a difference she really made to ‘his’ corpus, whether whatever effect she had on it was an improving one, and whether she even came close to meriting the lavish praise that he heaped on her in passages such as the one quoted above from the dedication to On Liberty (J. S. Mill 1977, p. 216). Stanford Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia Entries
Harriet Taylor Mill Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Utilitarianism, equal rights, social justice, personal liberty, enfranchisement of women