Liberty

The harm principle, as espoused by John Stuart Mill in his 1859 text On Liberty, is perhaps one of the most important components of liberal political theory. He argues that ‘the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.’ Certainly, the harm principle lies right at the heart of liberal individualism . This essay will analyse Mill’s conception of the harm principle and consider its…

libertas, meaning liberty or freedom. Liberalism is a political philosophy with individual liberty as its core value. Besides, it also emphasize on individual rights as well as the equality of opportunity. The liberal philosophy was developed by John Locke in the late of 17th century. Since the philosophy was derived originally from Locke’s natural rights theory, he was known as the “Father of Liberalism”. The natural rights theory basically means man has the natural right to life, to liberty,…

develop into something better (Baylis et Al,2014: 4). “Realism is mostly concerned with questions of order justice and change at the domestic, regional and international levels” (Lebow, 2016: 35), unlike liberalism which is mainly focused on ideas on liberty and equality. (McLean and McMillian,2009) There are different types of realism and liberalism as well. Two major types of liberalism are classical liberalism and social liberalism. In realism, two major types are classical realism and…

Stuart Mill the liberal and Jean-Jacques Rousseau the republican, are two political philosophers whom focussed on the integration of political liberty with the relationship found between that of the individual, society and the state by the means of power or authority. Both of these political thinkers formed their arguments in their writings, namely; On Liberty (1859) by Mill, and The Social Contract (1913) by Rousseau. On a more specific scale, their views differed in much contrast, whereby…

was a strong supporter of libertarianism - a group of individuals that identifies justice with liberty; freedom of choice. Nozick proposed that people have a certain moral right, which he called Lockean rights. Lockean rights or “natural rights” was a theory that every man has a right to life, liberty and property. The right to life, meant that everyone is entitled to live. The right to liberty, entitled everyone the right to do anything they wanted, if it did not conflict with others.…

The War of Politics: Liberals vs Conservatives Democracy in the United States American is made up of two main political parties, republicans and democrats. The common view of each party breaks down to liberals (Democrats) versus conservatives (Republicans) (Wilson & Dilulio, 2005). Instead of both sides working together to create policies for the greater good of the country, it seems that each side would rather dig their heels in the mud and take a stand that the other should be more like them…

independence and self-reliance. Ayn Rand, a Russian-American novelist,a champion of individual rights , in her celebrated works Anthem and The Fountainhead upholds the cause of Individualism manifested in characters like Equality 7-2521,International 4-8818,Liberty 5-3000 and Howard Roark. The bloody dictatorships in Anthem couldn’t alter the very terms in which humans think as to eradicate the vocabulary of individuality.Consequently, main characters, in successive episodes of purposeful…

Freedom comes with more responsibility and John Stuart Mill discusses the concept of liberty in numerous ways. However, The Harm Principle and freedom of action are two topics of Mill’s substantial opinions regarding to liberty. The Mill's Harm Principle provides individuals with the liberty to express all opinions, and act as one pleases, but unfortunately not enough to maintain a balanced society. Therefore, I disagree with the idea of Harm Principle, due to unable to implement what should be…

of calls for more individual liberties in the Constitution. The right to property is one of the most basic, rights that belongs to all humans. As an unalienable right, the right to property is a right that should be entitled at birth and therefore, is a basic freedom. As John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker who heavily influenced the Founding Fathers, once said: “All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.“ John…

Mill and Foucault both use the concept of freedom and liberty in their writings to demonstrate the different power dynamics. Mill has a distinct perspective of social tyranny among a liberal structure. Foucault explains the ways in which we facilitate and enforce power through discourse. While their two views give a different lens of power, I would argue that they give a similar perspective on the ways in which a collective society maintains power. Both Mill and Foucault establish a critical…