On Liberty

This new edition of On Liberty is the first to combine John Stuart Mill’s influential work with a set of relevant primary sources by Mill and his contemporaries. Alan Kahan’s introduction provides students with crucial background on nineteenth-century British politics and society; intriguing biographical details about Mill’s early life, intellectual career, and marriage; and thought-provoking discussion of the core issues of autonomy and freedom that On Liberty addresses. The related primary documents — including an excerpt from Mill’s famous proto-feminist treatise On the Subjection of Women — offer useful insights into the philosopher’s intellectual outlook as well as a fascinating view into On Liberty’s rather stormy reception. Excerpts from Mill’s diary and autobiography, contemporary reviews of On Liberty, and appreciations of Mill by his colleagues all deepen students’ understanding of this remarkable work and its equally remarkable author. Headnotes and gloss notes to the documents, a selected bibliography, a chronology of Mill’s life, and a set of questions for consideration offer additional pedagogical support.