John Stuart Mill’s Brief for the Limits of the Authority of Society over the Individual
I have been publishing a post based on John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty every other Sunday since January 27, 2013. I have now completed blogging my way through On Liberty, Chapter IV, “Of the Limits to the Authority of Society over the Individual. As when I completed the previous chapters, I wanted to do a bibliographic post collecting all of my posts on Chapter IV, as well as giving you the links for the previous chapters’ bibliographic posts.
“Of the Limits to the Authority of Society over the Individual” is by far the most challenging chapter so far. I had to think hard to figure out what I believed and could add to John Stuart Mill’s discussion. As a result, the posts for Chapter IV have more of my own writing and thinking in them than the posts for the previous chapters. I hope some of you take the time to work your way through these posts. On Liberty is worthy of this level of attention. Below is the detailed set of links for Chapter IV and links to chapter aggregator posts for the other chapters.
Chapter I: John Stuart Mill’s Defense of Freedom
Chapter II: John Stuart Mill’s Brief for Freedom of Speech
Chapter III: John Stuart Mill’s Brief for Individuality
Chapter IV: John Stuart Mill’s Brief for the Limits of the Authority of Society over the Individual:
- John Stuart Mill’s Rejection of Anarcho-Capitalism
- John Stuart Mill Argues Against Punishing or Stigmatizing, but For Advising and Preaching to People Who Engage in Self-Destructive Behaviors
- John Stuart Mill Fails to Treat Children as Hyperrational
- John Stuart Mill: People Should Be Allowed to Govern Their Own Lives Because They Care More and Know More about Themselves Than Anyone Else Does
- John Stuart Mill on the Middle Way Between Criminalization and Acceptance
- John Stuart Mill on Other-Regarding Character Flaws (as Distinct from Self-Regarding Character Flaws)
- It’s My Life; Let Me Live It!
- John Stuart Mill: We Are Ethically Responsible for the Harm We Do to Others, Even When That Harm Stems from First Doing Harm to Ourselves
- Truth or Consequences
- John Stuart Mill: How Laws Against Self-Harm Backfire
- Liberty and the Golden Rule
- John Stuart Mill on Being Offended at Other People’s Opinions or Private Conduct
- Rebelling Against the Arbiters of Taste
- John Stuart Mill on Freedom from Religion
- John Stuart Mill on the Rich and the Elite
- Drug Legalization and Time Slices of People as Ethical Units
- John Stuart Mill on Having a Day of Rest and Recreation
- John Stuart Mill’s Defense of Freedom of Religion for Mormons as an Argument for Chartering Libertarian Enclaves
Chapter V: John Stuart Mill Applies the Principles of Liberty