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On Liberty: with Related Writings
"With Harriet Taylor's name at last joined to that of her beloved husband John Stuart Mill as the co-author of this timeless book, we get to see On Liberty even more clearly as the complex and nuanced text it has always been. The greatest plea for individual intellectual freedom ever penned, with its insistence that no idea should be left unexamined nor any protest left unheard, it is also implicitly a document of progressive reform: the political emancipation of women is as much a natural consequence of Mill and Taylor's view of liberty as is the need for unimpeded discussion of all political questions. The right to open debate leads inevitably to the possibility of undreamt-of reform. Set free from too narrow a 'libertarian' or ‘utilitarian’ understanding, we can once again embrace On Liberty as one of the greatest heralds of the open society we possess, and as a foundational two-headed document of the matchless moral adventure of liberal democracy."
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker critic-at-large and author of A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism (Basic Books, 2019)
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On Liberty: with Related Writings group
BBC "In Our Time" Podcast: On Liberty: with Related Writings editors Piers Norris Turner and Helen McCabe are joined by Emeritus Professor of History and Politics Mark Philp for a fascinating discussion about this landmark work by John Stuart Mill, published in 1859 and the increasing recognition for his wife Harriet Taylor Mill's contribution. Listen here on the BBC website.
Since its original publication in 1859, On Liberty has profoundly influenced philosophical and political debates about individual freedom, social authority, and progress; it remains a foundational text of the liberal tradition shaping modern democracies.
This new edition advances our understanding of On Liberty in two related ways. First, it authoritatively establishes Harriet Taylor Mill as a co-author of On Liberty. Second, it supplements the text of On Liberty with illuminating passages from related essays, chapters, unpublished writings, and letters by both John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill.
"With Harriet Taylor's name at last joined to that of her beloved husband John Stuart Mill as the co-author of this timeless book, we get to see On Liberty even more clearly as the complex and nuanced text it has always been. The greatest plea for individual intellectual freedom ever penned, with its insistence that no idea should be left unexamined nor any protest left unheard, it is also implicitly a document of progressive reform: the political emancipation of women is as much a natural consequence of Mill and Taylor's view of liberty as is the need for unimpeded discussion of all political questions. The right to open debate leads inevitably to the possibility of undreamt-of reform. Set free from too narrow a 'libertarian' or ‘utilitarian’ understanding, we can once again embrace On Liberty as one of the greatest heralds of the open society we possess, and as a foundational two-headed document of the matchless moral adventure of liberal democracy."
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker critic-at-large and author of A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism (Basic Books, 2019)
"This is the best edition for teaching On Liberty—students will be well-served by seeing pertinent passages from other writings of John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill. Moreover, any scholar writing about On Liberty would be well-advised to consult this edition in order to interpret that essay in light of other relevant writings. I have never previously encountered a work of Mill scholarship that showed such a thorough acquaintance with such a vast amount of original source material. The editors of this volume have done a tremendous service to future students and scholars of this classic essay."
—Ben Eggleston, Professor of Philosophy, The University of Kansas
Piers Norris Turner, The Ohio State University
Jo Ellen Jacobs, Millikin University
Helen McCabe, University of Nottingham
Lilly Osburg, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Michael Schefczyk, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Christoph Schmidt-Petri, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
