77/2595 Mill, J.S. On Liberty. London, J.W. Parker and son, 1859, 2nd ed., 207,(1)p., orig. cl.

- Spine faded; spine-ends worn.

= One of the most fundamental works on liberal thought and politics. PMM 345; Encyclopedia of Philosophy V, p.320f: "Mill thought that his essay On Liberty was the most likely of all his works to be of enduring value. In it he maintained the view, which he had expressed as early as 1834, that "the sole end for which mankind are warranted, invidually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection". Mill argued for this view especially in regard to freedom of thought and discussion. "We can never be sure," he wrote, "that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still" (...) Even eccentricity is better, he held, than massive uniformity of personality and the stagnation of society that would result from it (...) Democratic tyranny would be far worse, he held, than aristocratic or despotic tyranny, since it would be far more effective in utilizing the most efficient of means of social control, the pressure of public opinion. Against this the only reliable safeguard would be the development of personalities strong enough to resist such pressures".