Table Of ContentRoutledge Guides to the Great Books
’
The Routledge Guidebook to Mill s
On Liberty
JohnStuartMill’sOnLibertyiswidelyregardedasoneofthemostinfluential
andstirringpiecesofpoliticalphilosophyeverwritten.Everrelevantinour
increasingly surveillance-dominated culture, the essay argues strongly in
favourofthemoralrightsofindividuality,includingrightsofprivacyandof
freedom of expression. The Routledge Guidebook to Mill’s On Liberty intro-
duces the major themes in Mill’s great book and aids the reader in
understanding thiskeywork,covering:
(cid:1) thecontextofMill’sworkandthebackgroundtohiswriting
(cid:1) each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings and
impact
(cid:1) thereceptionthebook receivedwhen firstpublished
(cid:1) therelevance ofMill’sworktomodernphilosophy.
With further reading included at the end of each chapter, this is an
essentialguidebookforallstudentsofphilosophyandpoliticaltheory,and
allthosewishingtogettogripswiththisclassicwork.
Jonathan Riley is Professor of Philosophy at the Murphy Institute, Tulane
University,USA.
THE ROUTLEDGE GUIDES TO THE
GREAT BOOKS
Series Editor: Anthony Gottlieb
TheRoutledgeGuidesto theGreatBooksprovideidealintroductionstotheworkof
the most brilliant thinkers of all time, from Aristotle to Marx and Newton to
Wollstonecraft. At the core of each Guidebook is a detailed examination of the
centralideasandargumentsexpoundedinthegreatbook.Thisisbookendedbyan
openingdiscussionofthecontextwithinwhichtheworkwaswrittenandaclosing
lookatthelastingsignificanceofthetext.TheRoutledgeGuidestotheGreatBooks
therefore provide students everywhere with complete introductions to the most
important,influentialandinnovativebooksofalltime.
Available:
Gramsci’sPrisonNotebooksJohnSchwarzmantel
Thoreau’sCivilDisobedienceBobPeppermanTaylor
Descartes’MeditationsGaryHatfield
Hobbes’LeviathanGlenNewey
Galileo’sDialogueMauriceA.Finocchiaro
Wittgenstein’sPhilosophicalInvestigationsMarieMcGinn
Aristotle’sNicomacheanEthicsGerardJ.Hughes
Heidegger’sBeingandTimeStephenMulhall
Hegel’sPhenomenologyofSpiritRobertStern
Locke’sEssayConcerningHumanUnderstandingE.J.Lowe
Plato’sRepublicNickolasPappas
Wollstonecraft’sAVindicationoftheRightsofWomanSandrineBergès
Forthcoming:
DeBeauvoir’sTheSecondSexNancyBauer
Paine’sRightsofManFrancesChiu
Aquinas’SummaTheologiaeJasonEberl
Kierkegaard’sFearandTremblingJohnA.Lippett
Machiavelli’sThePrinceJohnScott
Gibbon’sHistoryoftheDeclineandFalloftheRomanEmpireDavidWomersley
Foucault’sHistoryofSexualityChloeTaylor
Fanon’sWretchedoftheEarthJeanKhalfa
Jacobs’DeathandLifeofGreatAmericanCitiesPeterLaurence
Weber’sProtestantEthicandtheSpiritofCapitalismDavidChalcraft
Augustine’sConfessionsCatherineConybeare
This page intentionally left blank
Routledge Guides to the Great Books
The Routledge Guidebook to
’
Mill s On Liberty
Jonathan Riley
AddAdd AAddAdddAddAddd
AddAdd Add
FirstpublishedasRoutledgePhilosophyGuidebooktoMillonLiberty,1998
ThiseditionpublishedasTheRoutledgeGuidebooktoMill’sOnLiberty,2015
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©1998,2015JonathanRiley
TherightofJonathanRileytobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,Designs
andPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknown
orhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom
thepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithout
intenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Riley,Jonathan,1955-
TheRoutledgeguidebooktoMill’sOnliberty/JonathanRiley.
pagescm.--(TheRoutledgeguidestothegreatbooks)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Mill,JohnStuart,1806-1873.Onliberty.2.Liberty.I.Title.
JC585.M63R552015
323.44--dc23
2015001817
ISBN:978-0-415-66539-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-66540-7(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-72858-2(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
In memory of Patrick Sutherland Fallis
(1948–1981)
‘le feu follet’
This page intentionally left blank
C
ONTENTS
Series editor’s Preface xiv
Preface to the first edition xv
Preface to this edition xviii
PART I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
1 Mill and the Liberty 3
Mill’s life and work 3
‘Text-book of a single truth’ 34
Early reaction 36
Current status 41
Suggestions for further reading 45
Notes 47
PART II
THE ARGUMENT OF ON LIBERTY 51
2 Introductory (Chapter I, paras 1–16) 53
Stages of liberty (I.1–5) 53
Absence of a general principle (I.6–8) 57
