John Stuart Mill on Individual Liberty

John Stuart Mill on Individual Liberty

Definition of Individual liberty

In his work On Liberty, Mill placed much emphasis on individual liberty and its vital role in political society. To Mill, this phrase may be defined as the liberty of the individual to be the final judge over his actions; to decide what is right and wrong and to act upon that standard. On a secondary level, it also implies one's freedom to pursue one's own individuality. Mill believed in a society in which each individual leads his own distinctive life according to his own unique talents; unfettered by regulations upon thought, opinion, actions etc.

However, Mill asserts an important caveat; that which he calls `the very simple principle'. He writes, `That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. 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' .

Here Mill dismisses the interference of the state on three grounds: i) paternalist considerations, i.e. relating to preventing a person from harming himself, or to forcing him to benefit himself; ii) moralist reasons, i.e. relating to the insistence of the current moral sentiments of society, and finally, iii) welfare considerations, i.e. relating to restricting of an individual's liberty for the good of others.

In other words, Mill's individual liberty is as such: unless one's actions have injurious repercussions, one has the individual liberty to act as he wishes. Mill's principle sought...

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...still be more useful as a guideline that can be side-stepped in special circumstances i.e. when stability is threatened. Nonetheless, what may fall under the category of `special circumstances' is another moot point that will probably remain highly contended and unresolved.

References

A. Ryan, J. S. Mill (New York: Routledge, 1975)

Boucher, David, and Paul Kelly. Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present (Oxford: O.U.P, 2004)

Cowling, Maurice. Mill and Liberalism. 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963.)

Gray, John., "John Stuart Mill: the crisis of liberalism" in B. Redhead Plato to NATO (London: Penguin, 1995)

Mill, J.S. On Liberty. (Massachusetts: Agora Publications, 2003.)

Rees, John C. John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985.)

Ten, C.L. Mill On Liberty. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.)