The philosophical radicals and other essays

Abstract

The occasion part of of the four essays which form the flirts part of the present volume was the publication certain notable books, such as Leslie Stephen’s ‘English Utilitarians’, Herbert Spencer’s ‘Autobiography’ and James Martineau’s ‘Life and Letters’. But the studies they contain of important thinkers and schools are, I hope, sufficiently careful to merit reproduction in a more permanent form. Advantage has been taken of this republication to re-insert few passages which had to yield the exigencies of editorial space, and the argument at these points will be found more complete. The title of the volume is that of the paper which appeared first in order of time, but the choice is not merely casual. Doctrines and tendencies discussed in connection with the Philosophical Radicals reappear in the papers which follow, and the prominence throughout of the social and political aspects of philosophical theory gives a certain unity to the collection.