On Liberty

On Liberty is a famous book by John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher. The subject is clear from the title. It is on line at On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. It is reviewed by Sean Gabb, England's leading libertarian below at On Liberty Reviewed.

On Liberty - ex Wiki
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On Liberty is a philosophical work by British philosopher John Stuart Mill, originally intended as a short essay. Mill's marriage to his wife Harriet greatly influenced the concepts in On Liberty, which was largely finished prior to her death, and published in 1859 shortly after she died. The work applies Mill's ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state. Mill attempts to establish standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. He emphasizes the importance of individuality which he conceived as a prerequisite to the higher pleasures—the summum bonum of Utilitarianism. Furthermore, Mill criticized the errors of past attempts to defend individuality where, for example, democratic ideals resulted in the "tyranny of the majority". Among the standards established in this work are Mill's three basic liberties of individuals, his three legitimate objections to government intervention, and his two maxims regarding the relationship of the individual to society "which together form the entire doctrine of [Mill's] Essay."

On Liberty was a greatly influential and well received work though it did not go without criticism. Some attacked it for its apparent discontinuity with Utilitarianism, while others criticized its vagueness. The ideas presented in On Liberty have remained the basis of much liberal political thought. It has remained in print continuously since its initial publication. To this day, a copy of On Liberty is passed to the president of the British Liberal Democrats as a symbol of office.
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A rather good book. One we should all read.

 

On Liberty Reviewed by Sean Gabb
During the libertarian rebirth of the past generation, it has become fashionable to sneer at the essay On Liberty. It is, I admit, a flawed work, and I will shortly try to explain why this is so. Before then, however, I will put a case for the defence – to show why, despite its flaws, the essay remains a valuable weapon in the libertarian arsenal, and will remain one when Rand and Nozick will chiefly be names found in histories of twentieth century thought.

Mill is at his very best in Chapter II, “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion”. This contains the best argument for freedom of speech that I have ever found. Briefly stated, it goes thus:

We have no means of knowing with complete certainty the truth or falsity of any proposition. Therefore, to prohibit its being advanced is to make a wholly unfounded assumption of infallibility. Moreover, if a prohibition is made, one of two consequences will follow:

First, if the proposition is true, humanity will lose whatever benefit might follow from an addition to the stock of existing truths;

Second, if it is false, we shall lose what little assurance we can have of the truth of the other proposition denied by it. Establish even the plainest truth by law, and it will dwindle from the status of a truth acknowledged by reason to the status of a prejudice that can be embarrassed by the feeblest opposing show of reason.

When putting this argument, I have sometimes been called a racist, and was once pelted with beer glasses. But I have yet to hear or read a reply to it that I feel worth considering.

Mill also says much of permanent value in his discussion of what we call “health activism” and “the War on Drugs”. Take this against the drug controllers:

[N]either one person, nor any number of persons, is warranted in saying to another human creature of ripe years, that he shall not do with his life for his own benefit what he chooses to do with it. He is the person most interested in his own well-being,…. All errors which he is likely to commit against advice and warning, are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him to what they deem his good. (chapter iv)

Again, take this against Mr Steve Woodward of Action on Smoking and Health and all the other salaried enemies of free choice:

To tax stimulants for the sole purpose of making them more difficult to be obtained, is a measure differing only in degree from their entire prohibition; and would be justifiable only if that were justifiable. Every increase of cost is a prohibition, to those whose means do not come up to the augmented price; and to those who do, it is a penalty laid on them for gratifying a particular taste. Their choice of pleasures, and their mode of expending their income, after satisfying their legal and moral obligations to the State and to individuals, are their own concern, and must rest with their own judgment. (Chapter v)

There is much else that I can say in favour of this essay. There is its compactness, its rhapsodic praise of individuality, its biting denunciation of bigotry and paternalism. There is its honesty, and its willingness to give full and fair consideration to all opposing points of view. There is its brevity: it can be read and considered in less than a singly evening. But I will turn now to its defects, of which I see two................