In "Reforming Liberalism", Robert Devigne challenges prevailing interpretations of the political and moral thought of John Stuart Mill and the theoretical underpinnings of modern liberal philosophy. He explains how Mill drew from ancient and romantic thought as well as past religious practices to reconcile conflicts and antinomies (liberty and virtue, self-interest and morality, equality and human excellence) that were hobbling traditional liberalism. The book shows that Mill, regarded as a seminal writer in the liberal tradition, critiques liberalism's weaknesses with a forcefulness usually associated with its well-known critics. Devigne explores Mill's writings to demonstrate how his thought has been misconstrued, as well as oversimplified, to the detriment of our understanding of liberalism itself.

Robert Devigne is associate professor of political science at Tufts University and the author of Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism, published by Yale University Press.

"Mill's indebtedness to Plato has often been noted, but rarely explored. The attempt to put Mill's Plato in the context of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century debates about the classics brings out a dimension of Mill not often seen by more conventional studies."--Steven Smith, author of "Spinoza's Book of Life"



--Steven Smith