On Liberty
by John Stuart Mill
List Price:
Our Price: $7.26
You Save: $1.73 (19%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.97 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John Stuart MillEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-03-26
ISBN: 1604594683
Number of pages: 100
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Book Reviews of On Liberty
Book Review: What is Liberty? You Might be Surprised
Summary: 4 Stars
When J. S. Mill published ON LIBERTY in 1859, he was then but the latest in a very long line of liberal theorists that stretched back to Plato and continued intermittenly for the next two millennia. These theorists as did Mill attempted to ascertain what if any was that fine line between the rights of the individual to live unimpeded from the caprices of a ruling state and the duty of that state to maintain the civil order necessary for those rights to exist. That we today still have not defined this line is a testimony to the never ending struggle of thinkers like Mill to present arguments of which each succeeding generation must be made aware.
From the day it first appeared in print, readers have been entranced by the clarion call for unrestrained liberty. Mill wrote ON LIBERTY in such a manner that to argue against it suggests that to do so renders one as either a tyrant or a boor. Further, those who question Mill must walk a fine line between not supporting the very tyrannical state against which Mill rails and carrying out the the logical conclusion of accepting his definition of liberty at face value. I question Mill's underlying if unnoticed logic even as I applaud his cheerleading.
Mill sees society as a perpetual repressor of the liberty of its citizens. For him, liberty consists of the ability to think and do as one pleases. Barring certain exceptions this liberty is the very foundation of any society that dares to call itself free. Society, then, must bend over backwards to ensure that all possess it. The chief stumbling block in this quest lies less in the individuating traits of people and more in the the tendency of rulers to rely on the heavy hand of custom to maintain its own existence even at the cost of denying liberty to their subjects.
Mill sees "custom" as a dirty word that is all that is wrong with society. Nowhere does he concern himself with any positive connotations. He limits its use only to describe that which has the potential to stamp out every last smidgeon of creativity that might otherwise emerge. He fears that it will be the ruled, and not the rulers, who wish to crush dissent. To protect individuals from custom, Mill states that only those who are daring enough to defy society may do so. He calls such dissenters as "eccentrics." For him, it is a term of praise that brings to mind heirs of a very long line of liberal thought from ancient Greek days. Just as Mill ignores the reality that custom has two divergent senses so does he similarly ignore the same about eccentrics. Clearly, if history proves anything, it is that those who have differed in ways that are bestial are about as numerous as those that are beneficial. When Mill champions the absolute right of eccentrics to challenge custom, he opens the door to tear down the bonds of society and not erect anything of a compensatory nature. When he argues that liberty must not be used to harm others, he is using a red herring to divert attention from the grim realization that to be different means far more than than saying so.
Politics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Politics Books
Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journeyby Fergal Keane
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1997-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.44
Price in other shops:
The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yewby Kuan Yew Lee, Lee Kuan-Yeu, Lee Kuan Yew
Prentice Hall College Div; Published: 1999-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $115.00
The Political Science Student Writer's Manual (4th Edition)by Gregory M. Scott, Stephen M. Garrison
Prentice Hall; Published: 2001-05-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops:
Troublesby Tim Pat Coogan
ARROW (RAND); Published: 1996-11-21; Paperback; Book
My Silent Warby Kim Philby
Arrow Books; Published: 2003-11-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $37.92
The American City : What Works, What Doesn'tby Alexander Garvin
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 2002-06-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.99
Price in other shops:
At the Center of the Storm CDby George Tenet
HarperAudio; Published: 2007-05-22; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $1.41
Price in other shops:
Game Change CDby John Heilemann, Mark Halperin
HarperAudio; Published: 2010-02-23; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Catastropheby Dick Morris, Eileen McGann
Harper; Published: 2009-06-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told by One Who Knows the Gameby Christopher Matthews
Harpercollins; Published: 1989-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Discourse on the Method for Conducting One's Reason Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciencesby Rene Descartes
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1998-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.72
Price in other shops:
Leviathan: With Selected Variants from the Latin Edition of 1668by Thomas Hobbes
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1994-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Second Treatise of Governmentby John Locke
CreateSpace; Published: 2011-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
Discourse on the Origin of Inequalityby Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1992-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Selected Writingsby Karl Marx
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1994-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
The Communist Manifesto (Oxford World's Classics)by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.46
Price in other shops:
Democracy in Americaby Alexis de Tocqueville
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2002-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Leviathan (Penguin Classics)by Thomas Hobbes
Penguin Classics; Published: 1982-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.37
Price in other shops:
Second Treatise of Governmentby John Locke
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1980-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops:
Basic Political Writingsby Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1987-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops: