 Mill's writings establish connections among utility, liberty, and political institutions. Like his father, James Mill, and Jeremy Bentham, Mill is a utilitarian. Utility, or aggregate pleasure (1861b, 137), provides the ultimate standard for comparing two historical eras or two contemporaneous societies.  The claim that humanity is progressing means that utility is increasing over time.  Then, in  A System of Logic, Mill, following Comte (606), argues that the development of ideas drives the development of society as a whole (604).  Finally, in On Liberty and On Representative Government, Mill considers how a society's institutions can retard or accelerate ideological development. 