On Liberty
On Liberty is a philosophical work by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill , first published in 1859. For the Victorian reader of the time, it was a radical work that demanded moral and economic freedom from individuals in relation to the sovereign state.
An important point of the work is his principle for freedom: "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." (German: "Over himself, over his own body and mind, an individual is sovereign." ) Mill says this as opposed to the tyranny of the majority . “Tyranny of the majority” he calls the unelected power of the majority, which can do terrible things by controlling etiquette and morals. A second important point of the work is the Harm Principle (principle of damage): Everyone can do anything he wants, as long as he does not harm anyone directly. All branches of liberalism , as well as other political doctrines, understand this as their rationale, but they contradict one another in what is harm and what is direct.
On Liberty was a hugely influential work. The ideas presented were the basis of many political thoughts. The work is quite short and easy to read even by non-experts. It has remained in print continuously since its first publication. To this day, a copy of the work is given to the President of the British Liberal Democrats , formerly the Liberal Party, as a token of succession to the party that helped Mill establish.
Published editions of On Liberty
- On Liberty ( ISBN 1-59986-973-X )
- On Liberty and The Subjection of Women ( ISBN 0-14-144147-X )
On Liberty online editions
Secondary literature (online text)
- Mill On Liberty , by Chin Liew Ten , Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980 (all text hosted by the National University of Singapore ).