John Stuart Mill Essay

John Stuart Mill was a renowned liberal philosopher. His essay On Liberty (Mill, 1859) gives an explanation of when it is acceptable for society to become involved in the affairs of a person, stressing the importance of freedom. We can then use the principals he writes about to critically assess both sides of modern day policies.

Mill begins by supporting the principle of justice. He aims to lay out how society and the state should interact with individuals when forcing people into a legal reprimand. This promotes foundational equality; whereby all people have equal worth as humans and must be treated so before the law. Non-legal aspects, such as ethnicity or wealth, are separated from the legal decision making system so that justice is upheld

Mill states “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” (Mill, 1859). Therefore, an individual, or the state, must not attempt to control the actions of individuals, unless such actions are damaging to others. This allows individuals to do whatever they please, so long as it does not infringe anybody else’s freedom (Scarre, 2007). While Mill often bridges the gap between both modern and classical liberalism, this piece of philosophy is classical liberalism as it exemplifies negative

The extract states “He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise”. This exemplifies methodological individualism by placing the individual at the centre of thinking. Mill rejects collectivism by believing in the importance of a person above any societal group. Such a principle would have been particularly striking as it is also an assault upon the paternalistic views of the Victorian era in which Mill was writing. Traditionally those further up the social hierarchy were thought to have known what was best for society and should, therefore, rule upon the lives of those below. Instead, in typically liberal fashion, Mill rejects the principle of one man knowing what is best for