Abstract

Among the few commentaries to J. S. Mill s Utilitarianism this is a new and fresh one, written by a person educated in the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon philosophy but not belonging to that world. The book is an invitation addressed both to the students and their teachers to try to better understand Mill s work and to abandon their traditional preconceptions. It proposes, among others, a new reading of the significance of Mill s principle of utility ; a sympathetic approach to Mill s much criticized "proof"; and a more receptive attitude towards the role played by the forgotten arts of "aesthetics" and "expediency" which put the art of "morality" itself in a new light. The thorough analysis of the text will satisfy the hermeneutic preferences of all the lovers of Mill s moral philosophy, both beginners and advanced.