BHA celebrates Mill’s On Liberty (1859-2009)

John Stuart Mill is a prominent figure in the humanist tradition and his essay, On Liberty, is pivotal in thinking about the political values that underpin the humanist vision of an open society. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of this great work, the British Humanist Association has today sent all MPs and peers an account of the work, written by political philosopher Alan Haworth.

In the briefing, Dr Haworth said, ‘On Liberty remains the classic philosophical statement of a liberal position which continues to play a considerable role within political thought in the world at large, not just within academia.’ Dr Haworth sets out the principle on which Mill built his essay, that ‘the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection’, and that, ‘the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others’.

He goes on to emphasise the freedoms that Mill saw as essentially involved in the principle. ‘There is a sphere of action in which society, as distinguished from the individual, has, if any, only an indirect interest’, Mill wrote, going on to list the liberties which fall within the sphere, such as liberty of conscience, ‘absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects’, ‘the liberty of tastes and pursuits’ and the ‘liberty of combination’. Mill also defends ‘the liberty of thought and discussion’, arguing that it constitutes humanity’s best hope of reaching any form of truth, achieving progress and ‘the free development of individuality’. The free development of individuality is ‘one of the leading essentials of well-being’. Mill writes, ‘Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides’.

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘The message of On Liberty is timely. We ought not to forget Mill in the year when we are celebrating Darwin. Mill’s On Liberty has been hugely influential upon subsequent thought, just as Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, published in the same year, has been. Mill himself, like Darwin, was a non-Christian and a sceptical thinker, but the principles of liberty that he laid out can be values shared by religious people as well as humanists: they are secular political principles that bring people together in a cohesive community, possessing the same resonance today that they did 150 years ago.’

NOTES TO EDITORS

Alan Haworth is a fellow of the Global Policy Institute at London Metropolitan University; author of Understanding the Political Philosophers: from Ancient to Modern Times (Routledge 2004), and a member of the BHA’s Humanist Philosophers’ Group.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing the interests of the large and growing population of ethically concerned, non-religious people living in the UK. It is committed to human rights and democracy, and has a long history of active engagement in work for an open and inclusive society and for a rational approach to public ethical issues. The BHA’s policies are informed by its members, who include eminent authorities in many fields, and by other specialists and experts who share humanist values and concerns. The BHA sponsors the Humanist Philosophers group to promote a critical and rational approach to public ethical issues. www.humanism.org.uk

J S Mill On., a collection of essays edited for the BHA by Peter Cave, published to mark the 200th anniversary of Mill’s birth in 2006, is available at the special price of £4.50 plus p&p to celebrate the 150th anniversary of On Liberty.

In November, the BHA will be making On Liberty the subject of its annual Bentham Lecture, held jointly with University College, London, to be given by Richard Reeves, director of the think tank Demos, whose latest book is John Stuart Mill – Victorian Firebrand, an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician.