Abstract

John Stuart Mill has been much admired for his liberalism. His best-known work, the essay On Liberty, may be interpreted as a valiant attempt to protect individual freedom in modern society by determining the proper limits of state intervention; as a cogently reasoned plea for freedom of opinion and freedom of the press; as a defence of private initiative; as a demonstration that progress and culture are better safeguarded by moral and religious plurality than by a socially imposed pattern of conduct. And, in conformity with this benign view, Mill himself has been regarded as a man devoted to the cause of toleration and reason, a good and gentle humanitarian.