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In contrast with the tendency to regard the Utilitarians primarily as exponents of a moral theory, Stokes here focuses on their claim to have developed a practical science of society. He discusses James Mill's influence as the London head of the Indian administration, Macaulay's Benthamite reforms as Law Member, and Fitzjames Stephen's significance in the passage of utilitarianism into imperialism.

Utilitarianism, by British philosopher John Stuart Mill, is one of his most influential works and is a philosophical defense of utilitarian ethical theory. This publication remained a relevant publication since its original publication in the mid 19th century, as is still relevant in the application of utility in regard to social policy. This is an important work for those studying the concept of utilitarianism, or those who are interested in the writings of John Stuart Mill.

Sir Leslie Stephen, KCB (1832-1904) was an English author, critic and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. While at Cambridge, Stephen became an Anglican clergyman. In 1865, having renounced his religious beliefs, and after a visit to the United States two years earlier, he settled in London and became a journalist, eventually editing the Cornhill Magazine in 1871 where R. L. Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, W.E. Norris, Henry James and James Payn figured among his contributors. In his spare time, he participated in athletics and mountaineering. He also contributed to the Saturday Review, Fraser, Macmillan, the Fortnightly and other periodicals. During the eleven years of his editorship, in addition to three volumes of critical studies, he made two valuable contributions to philosophical history and theory: History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876) and The Science of Ethics (1882). Amongst his other works are Hours in a Library (1874), Samuel Johnson (1878), Alexander Pope (1880) and English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century (1904).