On Liberty

Journalist, author and historian Misha Glenny presents his first edition of In Our Time, succeeding Melvyn Bragg who retired from this role last summer. Misha and his guests discuss the landmark work On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, published in 1859 and the increasing recognition for his wife Harriet Taylor Mill’s contribution. The subject matter of the essay is ‘civil or social liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual’ and it argues that the sole end for which mankind may interfere with the liberty of action of anyone is self-protection and even then only to prevent harm to others. This essay became enormously popular and a foundational text for liberalism.

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Guests

• Helen McCabe No other episodes
  Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham
• Mark Philp 2 episodes
  Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at the University of Warwick
• Piers Norris Turner No other episodes
  Associate Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University

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Programme ID: m002pqnc

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002pqnc

Auto-category: 320.51 (Liberalism)