On Liberty

Classic from the year 2008 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 19th Century language: English abstract: First published in 1859. The subject of this Essay is not the so-called Liberty of the Will so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of Philosophical Necessity; but Civil or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual. A question seldom stated and hardly ever discussed in general terms but which profoundly influences the practical controversies of the age by its latent presence and is likely soon to make itself recognized as the vital question of the future. It is so far from being new that in a certain sense it has divided mankind almost from the remotest ages but in the stage of progress into which the more civilized portions of the species have now entered it presents itself under new conditions and requires a different and more fundamental treatment.