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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... regarded as particularly significant for being linked to the defense of such core values in the mod- ern ethos as liberty, privacy, and individuality. In support of these values Mill is cited as an authority by editorial writers ...
... regarded as an essential ingredient of liberalism, and it is often assumed that Mill, in distinguishing between self-regarding conduct and other kinds, was using the public-private distinction without labeling it as such. It will be ...
... regarded social controls of some kind as necessary and desirable even though they allowed for less than full and expansive liberty. As a consequence, far from being compatible with modern liberal thought, On Liberty should be regarded ...
... regarded as an ecclectic thinker whose arguments lacked coherence. Especially in On Liberty, which it was argued, included claims to the principle of utility and at the same time the assertion that liberty was inherently valuable and ...
... regarded as heretical, and therefore I ap- peal to Mill—to his conviction that inquiry requires openness to all opin- ions—and to the evidence, much of which, I believe, has been left out of consideration. Mill did not present his ...