Mill and Individual Liberty Essay by Top Papers

John Stuart Mill's main concern in "On Liberty" is the issue of individual liberty. To some extent he also was concerned about state control. Mill attempted to link the principle which he developed in relation to the individual to society as a whole. Mill's vision of society was the direct opposite of Marx since Mill foresaw a new social structure coming into being which would not be marked by alienation. Marx, of course, argued the direct opposite and his theory of alienation is sufficient to demonstrate that the untouchable area of life proposed by Mill does not exist. Mill understood liberty as commencing with individual freedom but extending over all of society. In Mill's work on the relation between individuals and their culture, Mill discovered a method to overcome widespread alienation that afflicts all societies.