POLS 2900 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: John Stuart Mill, Firmament, On Liberty
15 Dec 2014
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Mills definition of social liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual (mill 3) In the old days, power of the rulers that inherited rule by conquest was seen as necessary but also dangerous (a weapon they would use against their subjects) There would have to be patriots or a power to set limits to the power the ruler could be able to exercise over the community this limitation is what they meant by liberty: 4. A time came when men ceased to think it a necessity of nature that their governors should be an independent power opposed in interest to themselves. It appeared to them much better to demand for elective and temporary rulers, it became the prominent object of the exertions of the popular party wherever any such party existed, in order to limit the power of the rulers.
