II. Influence
Mill is the most important British philosopher of the 19th century. He continued, some would say, “concluded”, the development of British empiricism. He continued to develop and defend Utilitarianism and during a long career, he wrote extensively on the whole range of philosophical issues His work, On Liberty, is one of the real classics in western civilizations and in that particular work he especially defends individual freedom. He contributed to development of the social sciences. In logic, he challenged the importance of deduction and formulated canons of induction such as agreement, difference, concomitant variation and residues. He also tried to resolve the problem of induction. He argued for the empirical status of mathematics, presenting an important challenge in mathematical thought, although not many philosophers of mathematics have supported him regarding this matter.
