John Stuart Mill on Liberty and ControlPrinceton University Press, 2001 M06 18 - 264 pages John Stuart Mill is one of the hallowed figures of the liberal tradition, revered for his defense of liberal principles and expansive personal liberty. By examining Mill's arguments in On Liberty in light of his other writings, however, Joseph Hamburger reveals a Mill very different from the "saint of rationalism" so central to liberal thought. He shows that Mill, far from being an advocate of a maximum degree of liberty, was an advocate of liberty and control--indeed a degree of control ultimately incompatible with liberal ideals. |
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... especially by society. Eager to appropriate Mill's authority for their own views, these authors seek to reconcile Mill's arguments with their own. To do this, they interpret and reinterpret Mill's words and arguments to find in them a ...
... especially when the opinion was “deep seated” and part of the permanent furniture of the mind.4 The conviction that Mill unequivocally advocated individual liberty is such an opinion, it being an example of what he called “reigning ...
... especially provoked by the accusation that Mill was guilty of “more than a touch of something resembling moral totalitar- ianism.” To liberals, these were fighting words, especially as Mill had contributed substantially to shaping the ...
... especially in regard to the author of On Liberty, who urged openness, candor, and absolutely free discussion as the path to truth. This is indeed paradoxical, but my response to such suggestions is that my attribution of esotericism to ...
... especially appreciate informative and stimulating con- versations about particular aspects of the book with Frank Turner, Steven Smith, and Victor Gourevitch. I am also grateful to Geoffrey W. Smith for carefully reading the entire ...