Verified Document

Mill Place Any Limits On Term Paper

" Still others try to rebuff these objections, clarifying self-regarding acts and other-regarding acts.

J.C. Rees is at the helm of the counter-movement of interpretations, arguing that there is a distinguishable difference between actions that affect others and those that affect others' interests; he purports that it is the protection of other's interests to which Mill meant for liberty's limitation. Rees constructs a relativistic, conservative interpretation of liberty, in which the emphasis is placed on distinguishing interests from 'arbitrary wishes, fleeting fancies, and capricious demands." In his protection of the "permanent interests of man as a progressive being," Mill demands that the limitations of liberty extend to the interference of the protection of another citizen's own right to liberty.

The freedom of choice extended by Mill is aimed to protect the "permanent interests of a man as a progressive being," as expressed in both Utilitarianism and On Liberty. While Redhead and Monk contend differently as to the physical boundaries placed on liberty in practice, they both agree that Mill sacredly regards the security of man the individual man as the least dispensable of all interests. Viewing man as a progressive being, he speaks of the role of society to engulf the man not through an unalterable natural environment, but instead as the manifestation of choices and experiments inflicted upon the individual self and the group. This choice-environment protected higher pleasure as an indispensable condition of the happiness afforded by individual liberty. Nevertheless, his libertarian approach extended only as far as his utilitarianism protected the right to happiness preserved by others.

While largely criticizing them, laissez-fair capitalism and economic systems played an important role in the construction of further limits presented in On Liberty. With the nature of a classical economist, he accepted a world in which natural resources were not limitless and, Gray argues, posed harm in their manipulation to the larger social values of the group as well as the characters of the individual. A source of harm, economies must be limited, as the tyranny of the state and the abduction of the mass. While Mill's followers...

"John Stuart Mill: On Liberty and History." The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3. (Sep., 1965)
Brown, Donald G. " Mill on Liberty and Morality." Philosophical Review. Vol 81. (1972)

Gray, John. John Stuart Mill: Traditional and Revisionist Interpretations. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Humane Studies, 1982.

Hampsher-Mark, Iaian. A History of Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992.

Radcliff, Peter. Limits of Liberty. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1966.

Redhead, Brian. Political Thought from Plato to NATO. London: British Broadcasting Corp., 1984.

Rees, John C. "A Re-reading of Mill on Liberty." Political Studies. Vol. 8. (1960)

Rees, John C. "The Thesis of the 'Two Mills.'" Political Studies. Vol. 25. (1977)

Stephens, Fitzjames. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. R.J. White, Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.

Boulton, Clark W. "John Stuart Mill: On Liberty and History." The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3. (Sep., 1965) p. 569.

Gray, John. "The Revisionist View of Mill on Liberty, Morality, and Utility." John Stuart Mill: Traditional and Revisionist Interpretations. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Humane Studies, 1982.

Gray, "The Utility Principle, the Art of Life, and the Theory of Morality."

Brown, Donald G. " Mill on Liberty and Morality." Philosophical Review. Vol 81. (1972) p. 136.

Stephens, Fitzjames. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. R.J. White, Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. p. 28.

Rees, John C. "A Re-reading of Mill on Liberty." Political Studies. Vol. 8. (1960), also Ibid, "Was Mill for Liberty?" Political Studies. Vol. 14. (1966) and "The Thesis of the 'Two Mills.'" Political Studies. Vol. 25. (1977)

Rees in Radcliff, Peter. Limits of Liberty. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1966. p,…

Sources used in this document:
Stephens, Fitzjames. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. R.J. White, Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. p. 28.

Rees, John C. "A Re-reading of Mill on Liberty." Political Studies. Vol. 8. (1960), also Ibid, "Was Mill for Liberty?" Political Studies. Vol. 14. (1966) and "The Thesis of the 'Two Mills.'" Political Studies. Vol. 25. (1977)

Rees in Radcliff, Peter. Limits of Liberty. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1966. p, 101.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Mills Arguments
Words: 1386 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Mills Arguements Intrinsic Value of Liberty There can be very few doubts as to the importance of liberty to the philosophical espousing of John Stuart Mill, who even authored a treatise entitled On Liberty to underscore the amount of emphasis he placed on this particular concept. What is most interesting about the many different notions the author has in relation to freedom is the circumscriptions that are routinely placed upon it in

Mill and the Individual in
Words: 1782 Length: 5 Document Type: Thesis

To cultivate genius when it does appear, a society must be free for all, not just the recognized geniuses. or, as Mill more eloquently puts it, "it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they [geniuses] grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom...If from timidity they consent to be forced into one of these moulds [of conformity]...society will be little the better for their

Mill & Charles Taylor's Concepts
Words: 950 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

For him, it is also important to know that liberty, while dependent on the individual's decision alone, should also take into account the consequences that will come out upon the accomplishment of an action. That is, it is vital that the individual think of the 'bigger picture': will the action benefit the common good, or will it benefit my personal interests only? Positive liberty, hence, becomes more vital when

Mills, J. & Mullins, A.
Words: 2168 Length: 5 Document Type: Thesis

Sampling a. No description of participants given. b. The informants all appear to be appropriate to the study, all being engaged in the practice or training of nursing techniques and procedures, most in treatment settings. Data Collection a. Data collection was entirely based on human experiences; only individual experiences/attitudes were recorded or used in the study. b. Data collection strategies are not described in details, but appear to have consisted of an open

Aristotle's View of Friendship With Notice to Mill's Determining...
Words: 1835 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Aristotle vs. Mill The Greek philosopher Aristotle and John Stuart Mill agreed that the objective of morality was the pursuit of general happiness and the good life in society and in the individual. But they deviated in the concept of, and the manner of arriving at, "the right thing to do," especially in reference to friendships. Mill held that actions are right in the proportion that they tend to promote that

Mill on Liberty
Words: 1812 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Freedom, Liberty, And Authority Thomas Jefferson is attributed as saying "the price for freedom is constant vigilance." Only those who are willing to stake there reputation, their personal well being, their fortunes and their futures on the pursuit and defense of freedom are those who will have a guarantee of remaining free from the tyranny of those who would exchange the freedom for the freedom of minority at the expense of

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now