Martha Nussbaum’s entertaining Epistemology of the Closet explores the three great British Utilitarians . . . Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900) . . . making them much much more interesting than I would have thought.

Far from being political and social conservatives as their philosophical descendants often are, these guys were feminists, democrats, and proponents of gay rights and others.

Good read.