On Liberty — Outline
Thesis
“The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion.”
Development
- 1.
Introductory: scope and central principle
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.“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.”
- 2.
Argument from fallibility: silencing opinion as assumption of infallibility
CHAPTER II. OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION.“All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.”
- 3.
Argument from living truth: free discussion as condition of genuine belief
CHAPTER II. OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION.“however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.”
- 4.
Argument from partial truth: collision of opinions as source of whole truth
CHAPTER II. OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION.“the conflicting doctrines, instead of being one true and the other false, share the truth between them; and the nonconforming opinion is needed to supply the remainder of the truth, of which the received doctrine embodies only a part.”
- 5.
Individuality as element of well-being
CHAPTER III. OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING.“It is desirable, in short, that in things which do not primarily concern others, individuality should assert itself.”
- 6.
Danger of custom and mediocrity to individuality
CHAPTER III. OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING.“The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary, which is called, according to circumstances, the spirit of liberty, or that of progress or improvement.”
- 7.
Limits of society's authority over the individual
CHAPTER IV. OF THE LIMITS TO THE AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL.“As soon as any part of a person's conduct affects prejudicially the interests of others, society has jurisdiction over it, and the question whether the general welfare will or will not be promoted by interfering with it, becomes open to discussion.”
- 8.
Applications: illustrating the two maxims
CHAPTER V. APPLICATIONS.“The maxims are, first, that the individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself.”
- 9.
Applications: government interference and the danger of bureaucracy
CHAPTER V. APPLICATIONS.“the greatest dissemination of power consistent with efficiency; but the greatest possible centralisation of information, and diffusion of it from the centre.”
Conclusion
“The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it; and a State which postpones the interests of their mental expansion and elevation, to a little more of administrative skill, or of that semblance of it which practice gives, in the details of business; a State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to which it has sacrificed everything, will in the end avail it nothing, for want of the vital power which, in order that the machine might work more smoothly, it has preferred to banish.”