John Stuart Mill and Liberalism

JOHN STUART MILL AND LIBERALISM

John Stuart Mill (May 20 , 1806 , Pentonville , England - May 8 , 1873 Avignon , France ) was one of the greatest and most influential liberal thinkers of the XIX century and also a famous political economist and a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1865 to 1868 (Plank . As a prominent thinker , Mill introduced a new doctrine of liberty and can be considered as a first-rate liberal and a second-rate utilitarian (Reeves

John Stuart Mill (Source : httpwww .liberalinternational

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Conceived for the first time as a short essay

in 1854 , Mill 's famous and enormously influential book On Liberty that he published in 1859 is considered one of the founding philosophical works of classical liberalism and also one of the most fundamental texts on the concept of liberty . In the book which concerns social and civil liberty , the philosopher explores the nature of the power that society can legitimately exercise over individuals , and advocates their moral and economic freedom from the state (John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill Political Philosopher

The most important point and basis for liberty made by Mill in his book is that Over himself , over his own body and mind , the individual is sovereign . Individuals exercise their sovereignty both through their judgment and actions . The main ideas that Mill explains in his On Liberty could be grouped into the following sections

Mill opens his treatise by pointing out that the government is a dangerous weapon ' if it is not appropriately controlled and if its authority is not limited by the liberty of the citizens . In this way Mill suggests , citizens will be ruled by a government whose rule is guaranteed against oppression and tyranny . However , at a given stage society develops into democracy

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which does not fear tyranny any longer but where the majority can easily criminalize or marginalize a minority group of society and encroach on their rights or liberty . Mill calls it the tyranny of the majority and believes it is much worse than the tyranny of government because it is easier for individuals to be protected from a tyrant than against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling . He saw a danger of the old repression of despotic rulers being replaced by despotism of custom . Rules of conduct , thus , would be based on the majority opinion and there would be no protection in law against its tyranny (John Stuart Mill . He emphasizes that social tyranny is the greater danger than political tyranny for modern nations such as Britain (Heydt . As in Mill 's view the prevailing opinions within society are not necessarily the correct opinions on the one hand , and an individual has the right to choose whatever preference for his moral beliefs on the other hand , Mill concludes that this situation is wrong and unjust . In this case individuals will be harmed , then their sovereignty over themselves will be impaired (John Stuart Mill

Mill argues for a need of rational principle that would govern individuals within...