"On Liberty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mill John Stuart)

1859

ON LIBERTY

by John Stuart Mill
DEDICATION

The grand, leading principle, towards which every argument
unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and
essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.

WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT: Sphere and Duties of Government.

TO the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer,
and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings- the
friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my
strongest incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward- I
dedicate this volume. Like all that I have written for many years,
it belongs as much to her as to me; but the work as it stands has had,
in a very insufficient degree, the inestimable advantage of her
revision; some of the most important portions having been reserved for
a more careful re-examination, which they are now never destined to
receive. Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half
the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I
should be the medium of a greater benefit to it, than is ever likely
to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted
by her all but unrivalled wisdom.

Chapter 1

Introductory

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 recognised 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 civilised portions of the species have
now entered, it presents itself under new conditions, and requires a
different and more fundamental treatment.

The struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous
feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest
familiar, particularly in that of Greece, Rome, and England. But in
old times this contest was between subjects, or some classes of