On Liberty

Character Guide

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John Stuart Mill (The Author/Narrator)

The essayist who builds and argues the entire case for individual liberty, writing in the first person throughout as "I" rather than as a fictional narrator.

The Individual (The Self-Regarding Agent)

The central figure of the essay: any person acting in matters that concern chiefly himself, whom Mill argues should be free from interference by law or public opinion.

Society / The Majority (The Tyranny of the Majority)

Collective public opinion and government, presented early on as a potential force that can be as oppressive to the individual as any tyrant, even when acting through legitimate democratic means.

Wilhelm von Humboldt (Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt)

A Prussian philosopher quoted approvingly by Mill (via his essay 'Sphere and Duties of Government') as an authority on individuality and human development.

Glossary

self-regarding conduct

Mill's term for actions or choices that affect primarily the person doing them, as opposed to conduct that harms others; the zone he argues must be free from coercion.

tyranny of the majority

The danger that a democratic society's collective opinion, not just its government, can oppress dissenting individuals more thoroughly than any king.

harm principle

Mill's central rule (not his own phrase in the text, but the doctrine he states) that the only justification for exercising power over anyone against their will is to prevent harm to others.

pleonexia

A Greek term Mill borrows meaning the grasping desire to have more than one's fair share; listed among true 'moral vices' as opposed to mere self-regarding faults.

roturiers

A French term for commoners, used by Mill when discussing class-based morality (as in 'nobles and roturiers').

Helots

The serf-like underclass of ancient Sparta, invoked by Mill as an example of morality shaped by an ascendant class's interest over a subjugated one.

the Maine Law

A reference to 19th-century American prohibition legislation (from Maine), used by Mill as an example of overreaching restriction on self-regarding commerce.

Akbar / Charlemagne

Historical rulers Mill cites as examples of legitimately despotic but improving rulers suited to 'backward' societies not yet ready for liberty.

corn-dealer example

Mill's illustration distinguishing free expression of an opinion in print from the same opinion delivered as incitement to a violent mob—used to mark the boundary between liberty of thought and harmful instigation.

liberty of the press

Shorthand in the essay for freedom of published expression, treated by Mill as historically established but requiring deeper philosophical justification than mere political tradition.

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