Philosophical Radicals

About this Collection

The Philosophical Radicals were a group of British reformers in the early and mid-19th century who were inspired by the ideas of Jeremy Bentham. Their group included James Mill, Francis Place, George Grote, John Stuart Mill, and William Molesworth. Some of them entered Parliament to lobby for legislative reforms. Their main journal was the *Westminster Review".

Western Europe Periods of Enlightenment Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion

Key People

Jeremy Bentham

William Godwin

George Grote

James Mill

John Stuart Mill

Titles & Essays

Group by Category

THE READING ROOM

Bayle’s Dictionary: #1 Bestseller in the 18th Century

By: Walter Donway April 30, 2024

“In matters of religion, it is very easy to deceive a man and very hard to undeceive him.” --Pierre Bayle

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Benjamin Tucker Today - War, Antisemitism, Lawyers

By: Michael Zigismund November 15, 2023

Benjamin Tucker’s Liberty in 1882 had a few things to say about our day’s concerns, such as war, antisemitism, and lawyers.

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Candide: Published in Exile, Denounced, Banned, and a Classic

By: Walter Donway October 18, 2023

In 1759, when Voltaire published Candide, at first anonymously, he was sixty-five years of age. He had been imprisoned in the Bastille, exiled to England in lieu of further incarceration, banished from Paris by King Louis XV (in…

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David Hume: Skepticism, Pessimism, Enlightenment

By: Walter Donway August 16, 2023

“The identity that we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one, established by the mind, not a peculiar nature belonging to what we’re talking about.”—David Hume

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David Hume’s Great Work on Religion Is Banned, Along with All His Books

By: Walter Donway October 25, 2023

The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.—David HumeThe life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an…

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Isaac Newton’s Principia and Life after It

By: Walter Donway July 26, 2023

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica was Newton’s historic achievement. It altered the course of science from that day to this. In summer 1684, Newton began this work, partially stimulated by a visit from the British…

James Mill

James Mill (contributor)

This is a collection of key extracts by, and essays and study guides about James Mill

See also the following works:

Works in the OLL by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) Timelines:The Life of John Stuart Mill…

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Joseph Priestley: “Enlightenment Man”

By: Walter Donway June 6, 2024

If anyone does, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) warrants the description “Renaissance man.” But, to avoid confusion, since Priestley lived a couple of centuries after the Renaissance, let me argue here that this “Enlightenment man,” as…

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OLL’s November Birthday: Baruch Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677)

By: Peter Carl Mentzel November 22, 2021

This month’s featured birthday anniversary is the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, a.k.a, Benedict de Spinoza. A key figure in the history of Rationalism, he is also widely regarded as one of the most important expounders of the…

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Reflecting on Banned Books: Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

By: Aeon J. Skoble October 12, 2023

Britain, 1761. All of David Hume’s works are banned by the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, including his 1748 Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. What was so horrible about the work of this Scottish philosopher that would make the…

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Rousseau’s Discourse on the Arts and Sciences

By: Philip D. Bunn October 19, 2023

Rousseau’s life was marked and marred by controversy and persecution. Though his lifestyle was somewhat sordid, as recounted in his Confessions, it was his ideas that were treated as most dangerous by his contemporary intellectual…

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The Eighteenth Century’s Boundless Optimism Collides with David Hume

By: Walter Donway August 23, 2023

“Epicurus’s old questions are still unanswered: Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?” —David…

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Voltaire: The French Enlightenment Is Born

By: Walter Donway June 14, 2023

To name Voltaire is to characterize the entire eighteenth century.--Victor Hugo

Works of Jeremy Bentham: Table of Contents

Jeremy Bentham (author)

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Jeremy Bentham,The Works of Jeremy Bentham,published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols.

Vol. 1.…

Quotes

Politics & Liberty

Socrates as the “gadfly” of the state (4thC BC)

Full Quote