On Liberty is John Stuart Mill's 1859 essay on the limits of the power that society and government may legitimately exercise over the individual, best known for what has come to be called the harm principle: that the only justification for interfering with an individual's liberty of action is to prevent harm to others, and that a person's own good, physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.
Facts
Key ProvisionSets out the harm principle, that the only legitimate ground for exercising power over an individual against their will is to prevent harm to others, and defends freedom of thought and discussion on the ground that even a false opinion may contain a portion of truth suppressed nowhere else. 1 Classification
Document TypePolitical Philosophy or Theoretical Work 1 Original Language Connections
Drafted By
Mill published On Liberty in 1859, developed jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill and published shortly after her death.
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy
Additional Source John Stuart Mill (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Section discussing On Liberty
Influenced
Source John Stuart Mill (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Sources
1. John Stuart Mill (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyDocument type, description
On Liberty is John Stuart Mill's 1859 essay on the limits of the power that society and government may legitimately exercise over the individual, best known for what has come to be called the harm principle: that the only justification for interfering with an individual's liberty of action is to prevent harm to others, and that a person's own good, physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.
- Section discussing On Liberty and the harm principle
- Influenced: Liberalism
- Drafted By: John Stuart Mill, Section discussing On Liberty
View the Source 2. Wikidata: On Liberty
- Wikidata Q126707656, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)
- Wikidata Q126707656 via P407 (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/propfill_varchar.ps1)
View the SourceStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyDrafted By: John Stuart Mill, Page textQuote, Drafted By: John Stuart Mill, Page text
Mill’s On Liberty is the most influential statement of his liberal principles.
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