Fifteen leading philosophers explore a set of themes from the pioneering work of Gail Fine and Terence Irwin, in ancient philosophy but also in later periods and in systematic philosophy. The contributors discuss knowledge, rhetoric, freedom and practical reason, virtue and the good life, ethics and politics in Plato and Aristotle and beyond. The editors offer an introduction charting the scholarly contributions of Fine and Irwin and assessing their individual and joint impact, together with a complete bibliography of their writings.

Skorupski's collection of essays on Mill's philosophical thought is a valuable addition to Cambridge University Press's free series of companions to major figures in the history of philosophy. Volumes within the series contain specially commissioned essays by leading interpreters of figures within the history of philosophy that aim to provide a systematic account of that philosopher's commitments that is accessible to undergraduates and nonspecialists, serves as a useful interpretive guide to more advanced students and specialists, and explains the ongoing relevance (...) of a figure's commitments to contemporary philosophical debates. It is not easy to achieve all three simultaneously. Skorupski's companion to Mill, however, does an admirable job of balancing the level of sophistication needed to satisfy specialists with the accessibility required by nonspecialists; nonspecialists will fmd the essays intellectually demanding, but not inaccessible, and specialists will usually find familiar issues put in new perspective. Whereas only a few of the essays explicitly forge connections between Mill's views and contemporary debates, all of them demonstrate an interpretive sensibility that is well informed by contemporary philosophical issues and positions. (shrink)