John Mill

2 Pages 544 Words

The struggle between liberty and authority in On Liberty can be categorized under two headings with the first demonstrating adverse force between liberty and authority and the second showing authoritative forms operating without a necessarily antagonistic manner alongside liberty. “ The struggle between liberty and authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar,”(662). This statement by John Mill reflects his view of the adverse position held by the ruler over the ruled. The ruler whether in the form of king, queen, or group of governing powers was necessary to ensure that persons were not preyed upon or harmed by other members of the community. However, the ruling body itself might following their own agenda when it conflicted with that of ruled be motivated to prey upon such members of the population. While the ruler would did indeed substantially lessen the number of weaker predators that a citizen might be subject to, it became evident that the ruler itself would become the most powerful and worried about predator of all. Liberty then came to be defined as the citizen’s ability to circumvent or limit the power that the ruler or governing body could employ over them. This goal was attempted in two ways, with the first being to establish certain inalienable rights that offered immunity against certain actions that the governing body was restricted from taking. In the case that one of these forbidden action was pursued by the ruler, then this would warrant just cause for “specific resistance” (663) or rebellion against such rule. The second and more recent of these attempts was the formulation of certain checks and balances of power where the general population or representative’s permission or approval had to be obtained before certain important governmental actions are taken. The first of these two sought after limitations, the ruling body was often subje...