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In his opening chapter, Mill contrasts two political traditions, that of authority and that of liberty. These traditions imply two quite different views of the individual and his or her relationship to society. In the authoritarian view society, perhaps in the form of the monarchy, is dominant, and the individual exist only as a member of society. To use an analogy which Mill does not use, society is the machine, and the individuals are cogs within it. In the libertarian view the individual comes first, and society is simply the aggregate of the relationship that individuals make with one another.

In Mill’s analysis the tension between authority and liberty is a matter of historical fact, and he see this tension as a major theme of human history. But Mill himself also makes a value judgement in that he firmly puts himself on the side of liberty. Thus from the outset Mill is implying a bias towards minimal government, in which the main role of the state is to provide a secure......

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Approximate Pages: 16 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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