Briefly: Mills' on Liberty

by David Mills Daniel

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) wrote his most controversial work, On Liberty in 1859, the year in which Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was also published. On Liberty contains a rational justification of the freedom of the individual in opposition to the claims of the state to impose unlimited control, and has become a classic of libertarian philosophy. Warning against the tyranny of the majority, this treatise argues that in the past the danger had been that monarchs held power at the expense of the common people and the struggle was one of gaining liberty by limiting such governmental power. But now that power has largely passed into the hands of the people at large through democratic forms of government, the danger is that the majority denies liberty to individuals, whether explicitly through laws ... or more subtly through morals and public opinion.

96 pages, ebook

First published October 27, 2011

About the author

Hi there.

I am David Mills Daniel, author of the 'Briefly' series.

Over the past few years, a major focus of my life has been developing and writing my 'Briefly' series of guide yo key texts in philosophy, phiosophy of religion, religious studies and ethics. 21 classic texts guides have now been published.

A major aim of the series is to enable school and university/college students to acquire knowledge and understanding of the texts and of the thinking of the philosophers who wrote them. The series is also designed to make the texts, and philosophical ideas generally, more accessible to those who would like to know more about the subject, and to encourage people to discover for hemselves what philosophy has to offer.

One of my greatest pleasures in life is discussing philosophy with those who do not think it has much to offer them. A lot of people believe that philosophy is remote from everyday life, belongs in the study or lecture room, and is for those who are able to devote their lives to thinking, rather than doing.

Well, yes. Philosophy is thinking about things, but that includes all the issues which matter to everyone: the nature of the world we inhabit; our responsibilities to others; how we should live our livves; the sort of priorities we should have; what sort of society we want; our relationships; the values we should hand on to our children; and so on.

So, philosophy is not just a subject for university professors. Indeed, many of the great philosophers, like John Locke, David Hume and John Stuart Mill, were active in the wider world, and earned their living frtom jobs which has nothing to do with philosophy or teaching it. But, all of them thought and wrote about the big issues of life. And, a great deal of what they have to say is stimulating and challenging; some of it is controversial. Furthermore, it is relevant to our lives today.

Through studying philosophy, we can bring the thinking of the geat philosophers to bear on the challenges, issues and questions we face today, as human beings, citizens, members of society and individuals with relationships, responsibilities, conncerns and uncertainties. We can learn from them, and their thoughts and ideas can help us to answrr some of the questions we face. At least, they can help us to understand the questions more clearly.

My 'SCM AS/A2 Ethics and Moral Philosophy', which supports the teaching of AS-level philosophy and religious studies, but which will also be of interest to general leaders who want an easy-to-follow guide to these fascinating and important areas of
philosophy, was published in 2009.