John Stuart Mill was born in London in 1806. He became a leading philosophical radical, active as a propagandist in their intellectual and reforming pursuits. In 1826, he began to rethink his stance and examine alternative positions offered by Coleridge and Carlyle. By the 1840's Mill could offer a mature reinterpretation of his philosophical position.Gertrude Himmelfarb is Professor of History at the City University of New York and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.