On Liberty

Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.

If the cultivation of the understanding consists in one thing more than in another, it is surely in learning the grounds of one's own opinions. 

I enjoyed reading this immensely.  (Like my very 19th century choice of word?)  It was the subject of my first politics essay for the unit I am currently studying The Liberal Democratic State.  The book is insightful, engaging and challenging.  I tagged, highlighted and scribbled in this book with gusto.  I even chuckled to myself many times.  

Despite Mill's dour expression, (unattractive fellow wasn't he?), he was a man capable of intense passion.  I enjoyed reading the in depth introduction with lots of biographical information in this Penguin edition.  Harriet was a very lucky lady!   I don't know of many other examples of a relationship as deep, enduring and productive as theirs.  Pity she was already married when they met.  Fortunately her first husband, being much older, conveniently died while Mill still had a lot of life left to live with her.  Perhaps their years of honorably being "just friends" was in some measure responsible for the depth of their intimacy.  Is there a better basis for enduring love than deep and abiding friendship?  At the bottom of this entry is Mill's dedication to Harriet in On Liberty.  A tear-jerker! 

So what is the book about?  Mill is advocating for liberty - that individuals are sovereign over themselves.  He argues that it is not legitimate for anyone, government or individuals, to interfere with another person, except to prevent harm to others.  This has become famously known as the Harm Principle:

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 sufficient warrant.  

Mill sees the repressive Victorian culture as very damaging to individuality and originality.  He recognises that social pressures to conform lead to the suppression of truth and laziness of thinking.  He argues that liberty is essential in three domains: liberty of thought, liberty of tastes and pursuits and liberty of association.  He presents a compelling case for freedom of speech that has been the cornerstone for western societies commitment to this freedom.

John Stuart Mill had a brilliant mind and his political ideas were revolutionary.  It is a shame that their subsequent effect on the western political landscape has been so diluted and polluted by capitalistic greed.  Perhaps Hobbes was right after all, though I wistfully hope not.

To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer, and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings- the friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward—I dedicate this volume. Like all that I have written for many years, it belongs as much to her as to me; but the work as it stands has had, in a very insufficient degree, the inestimable advantage of her revision; some of the most important portions having been reserved for a more careful re-examination, which they are now never destined to receive. Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it, than is ever likely to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom.