Mill's "On Liberty" (Paperback)

~ Gerald Dworkin (Author) "[1.1] The subject of this essay is not the so-called liberty of the will - so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of philosophical necessity..." (more)
Key Phrases: Marcus Aurelius, Wilhelm von Humboldt, New England (more...)

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Product Description

John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" (1860) continues to shape modern Western conceptions of individual freedom. In this volume, eight leading Mill scholars comment on this landmark work. Their essays, selected for their importance and accessibility, serve as an excellent introduction to this foundational text. Designed with political philosophy and philosophy of law courses in mind, this collection of essays by the leading Mill scholars is an ideal introduction to On Liberty. Clear and insightful, the essays make clear the continued relevance of Mill's work to contemporary struggles to protect individual rights without harming others. The collection is also useful for courses devoted to Mill at either the undergraduate or graduate level. Mill and Milquetoast, David Lewis. John Stuart Mill and the Harm of Pornography, David Dyzenhaus. Mill and Pornography, Robert Skipper. Paternalism, Gerald Dworkin. Paternalism, Utility, and Fairness, Richard Arneson. Liberty and Harm to Others, David Lyons. Profound Offense, Joel Feinberg. The Doctrine of Liberty in its Application to Morals, James Fitzjames Stephen.

About the Author

Gerald Dworkin is professor at the University of Illinois and the University of California, Davis. He is the editor of the journal "Ethics", the author of "Theory and Practice of Autonomy" (1988) and the editor of "Morality, Harm, and the Law" (1995)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084768489X
• ISBN-13: 978-0847684892
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,589,928 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great defender of individual liberty, June 12, 2009

By	Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: John Stuart Mill: On Liberty (Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy) (Paperback)

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term. Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success. He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote. He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S. He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose. It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it. He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do. He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on. He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes. The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance. Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general. He was intensely educated by his father James. John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home. Dad thought environment was everything. He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing. He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work. He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic. He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis. His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other. Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.

Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism. It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness. Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized. I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians. Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality. Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians. Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain." What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures. He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures." These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have. So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use. His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc. His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics. The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also. It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks. Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure. He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.

"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work. It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty. He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle." It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom. "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry. In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate. Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness. He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves. Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles. This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily. For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others. Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others. Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children. Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage." In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..." Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe. Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.


There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives. He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press. He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important. Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures. How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures? Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned. Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about. That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.

Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species." Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief. But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.

I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent editor's introduction to a classic text, October 27, 2009

By	Sherif Bahaa Eldin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: John Stuart Mill: On Liberty (Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy) (Paperback)

The editor's introduction serves as an excellent assistant to newcomers like myself to political and ethical philosophy. A 55 pages introduction is divided into four sections.

The first goes briefly into the historical account of Mill's life and how it has shaped his political views. The second introduces Mill's version of Bentham's Utilitarianism.

The third sections reviews the five chapters of the book, briefly describing each's main topics. The best part is the last, introducing crtical issues that has been discussed and debated in the book. Various views of Aristotle, Hart, Dworkin and, Devlin are presented versus that of Mill's. This specifically strengthens your understanding of the issues presented and paves the way for an enjoyable reading adventure...

sherif

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need more, June 15, 2008

By	Louis Levy - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mill's On Liberty (Audio CD)

I am now older and I want to read and re-read materials I loved when I was a college student. I would love to "see" more talking book materials of "classic" philosophy as well as historical writings in CD formats.