Published in 1859, this title presents an eloquent defense of individual freedom in nineteenth-century social and political philosophy. It offers a liberal argument in support of the value of liberty.

Mill's "On Liberty" is a statement in favour of the rights of the individual. This text introduces and assesses Mill's life and the background of "On Liberty". The ideas of the work are considered along with the continuing importance of Mill's work to philosophy and political thought today.

John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1860) continues to shape modern Western conceptions of individual freedom. Designed with political philosophy and philosophy of law courses in mind, this collection of essays by leading Mill scholars is an ideal introduction to On Liberty. Selected for their importance and accessibility, the essays make clear the continued relevance of Mill's work to contemporary struggles to protect individual rights without harming others. The collection is also useful for courses devoted to Mill at either the undergraduate or graduate level.

This detailed and sympathetic, but not uncritical, study of Mill's famous essay On Liberty argues for the general consistency and coherence of Mill's defense of individual liberty, but maintains that there are significant non-utilitarian elements in his arguments.

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.

This volume brings together J.S. Mills On Liberty and a selection of important essays by such eminent scholars as Isaiah Berlin, Alan Ryan, John Rees, C.L. Ten and Richard Wollheim. As well as providing authoritative commentary upon On Liberty, the essays reflect a broader debate about the philosophical foundations of Mill's liberalism, particularly the question of the connection betweenMill's professed utilitarianism and his commitment to individual liberty. Introduced and edited by John Gray and G.W. Smith, the book will be of interest to students of Mill, to ethical and political philosophers and to anyone interested in the contemporary status of liberalism.

Now available in paperback, this second edition reproduces the text of the first with the addition of an extensive postscript which defends the interpretation of Mill set out in the first edition.

This volume of essays covers the whole range of problems raised in and by Mill's On Liberty, including the concept of liberty, the toleration of diversity, freedom of expression, the value of allowing 'experiments in living', the basis of individual liberty, multiculturalism and the claims of minority cultural groups.

A prodigiously brilliant thinker who sharply challenged the beliefs of his age, the political and social radical John Stuart Mill was the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century. Regarded as one of the sacred texts of liberalism, his great work On Liberty argues lucidly that any democracy risks becoming a 'tyranny of opinion' in which minority views are suppressed if they do not conform with those of the majority. Written in the same period as On Liberty, shortly after the death of Mill's beloved wife and fellow-thinker Harriet, The Subjection of Women stresses the importance of equality for the sexes. Together, the works provide a fascinating testimony to the hopes and anxieties of mid-Victorian England, and offer a compelling consideration of what it truly means to be free.