On Liberty

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This new edition of On Liberty is the first to combine John Stuart Mill's influential work with a set of relevant primary sources by Mill and his contemporaries. Alan Kahan's introduction provides students with crucial background on nineteenth-century British politics and society; intriguing biographical details about Mill's early life, intellectual career, and marriage; and thought-provoking discussion of the core issues of autonomy and freedom that On Liberty addresses. The related primary documents - including an excerpt from Mill's famous proto-feminist treatise On the Subjection of Women - offer useful insights into the philosopher's intellectual outlook as well as a fascinating view into On Liberty's rather stormy reception. Excerpts from Mill's diary and autobiography, contemporary reviews of On Liberty, and appreciations of Mill by his colleagues all deepen students' understanding of this remarkable work and its equally remarkable author. Headnotes and gloss notes to the documents, a selected bibliography, a chronology of Mill's life, and a set of questions for consideration offer additional pedagogical support.

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 - 8 May 1873), usually cited as J. S. Mill, was a British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century",[8] Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.[9] Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell, John Herschel, and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill engaged in written debate with Whewell.[10] A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the second Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage after Henry Hunt in 1832 John Stuart Mill was born at 13 Rodney Street in Pentonville, Middlesex, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and Harriet Barrow. John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Benthamand Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham had died. Mill was a notably precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography. At the age of three he was taught Greek.[14] By the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis,[14] and the whole of Herodotus,[14] and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laërtius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato.[14] He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic, physics and astronomy. At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin, the works of Euclid, and algebra, and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading was still history, but he went through all the commonly taught Latin and Greek authors and by the age of ten could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father also thought that it was important for Mill to study and compose poetry. One of Mill's earliest poetic compositions was a continuation of the Iliad. In his spare time he also enjoyed reading about natural sciences and popular novels, such as Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe.

Preface
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION: JOHN STUART MILL AND HIS WORK
Who Was John Stuart Mill?
Mill's Childhood and Early Career
New Influences on Mill and On Liberty
Mill in Context
On Liberty
PART TWO: THE DOCUMENT: ON LIBERTY
PART THREE: RELATED DOCUMENTS
1. John Stuart Mill, Diary, January–April, 1854
2. John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, 1873
3. John Stuart Mill, On the Subjection of Women, 1869
4. London Quarterly Review, Notice of On Liberty, October 1859
5. Leslie Stephen, Social Macadamization, Fraser's Magazine, August 1872
6. Southern Review, Review of On Liberty, July 1867
Appendixes
A Chronology of Important Events in the Life of John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography

1 A classic and foundational work of political philosophy
2 The related primary documents — including an excerpt from Mill's famous proto-feminist treatise On the Subjection of Women — offer useful insights into the philosopher's intellectual outlook as well as a fascinating view into On Liberty's rather stormy reception
3  Excerpts from Mill's diary and autobiography, contemporary reviews of On Liberty, and appreciations of Mill by his colleagues all deepen students' understanding of this remarkable work and its equally remarkable author