Criticisms of On Liberty

Overview

Communitarian criticism of On Liberty, conservative criticism of Mill's treatment of custom and feminist criticism of Mill's public and private distinction.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   Summarise James Fitzjames Stephen's criticism of Mill.

   Model answer

   Stephen argued in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity that compulsion is a normal and necessary instrument of social life and that religion, law and public opinion rightly enforce morality. Stephen also argued that Mill vastly overrated the ability of ordinary people to be improved by discussion.

2. 2

   Summarise Patrick Devlin's argument against the harm principle.

   Model answer

   Devlin argued that a shared morality is part of the invisible bonds that hold a society together, so society has the same right to protect it as it has to defend itself against treason. Devlin held that conduct arousing sufficient public revulsion may be prohibited even where it harms no identifiable person.

3. 3

   How did H L A Hart reply to Devlin?

   Model answer

   Hart defended a version of Mill's position, arguing that Devlin had produced no evidence that tolerating private immorality dissolves a society. Hart distinguished a shared morality from the popular feelings of the moment and warned against turning disgust into law, while accepting some paternalism where consent is impaired.

4. 4

   State the communitarian criticism of On Liberty.

   Model answer

   Communitarian writers such as Michael Sandel, Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor argue that Mill imagines an individual detached from the community, traditions and relationships that actually constitute a person's identity. Choices on that view are made from within a moral community rather than by a self that exists prior to it.

5. 5

   What is the conservative criticism of Mill's treatment of custom?

   Model answer

   Conservatives following Burke argue that inherited custom embodies the accumulated experience of generations and is more reliable than the reasoning of any individual. Mill's readiness to test every practice against private judgement is therefore seen as dissolving the social fabric that makes liberty possible.

6. 6

   What is the feminist criticism of Mill's public and private distinction?

   Model answer

   Feminist writers argue that a protected private sphere shields domestic subordination and violence from public scrutiny, and that women's oppression has largely occurred inside the family. Carole Pateman and Susan Moller Okin developed versions of this criticism of liberal political theory.

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