An open library of thought
Protect the freedom to think and live differently.
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
These notices present three major essays: On Liberty, Utilitarianism and The Subjection of Women. A System of Logic, the Principles of Political Economy, Considerations on Representative Government, the Autobiography, the essays on religion and the extensive correspondence are not indexed here; this is a selection, not a complete bibliography.
011859
Published in 1859, shortly after Harriet Taylor’s death, and dedicated to her memory, the essay grew out of a shorter text written in 1854. Mill expressly restricts the principle to societies he considered capable of improvement through free discussion; critics link this exclusion to his career in imperial administration.
021861 / 1863
First published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1861 and as a book in 1863, the essay addresses a general readership rather than specialists. Its brief “proof” of the principle in the fourth chapter, which moves from what people actually desire to what is desirable, has been disputed since its first readers.
031869
Written in 1861 and published in 1869, after his parliamentary campaign for women’s suffrage, the essay draws on discussions with Harriet Taylor and Helen Taylor, whose contribution Mill acknowledged. Harriet Taylor’s own essay The Enfranchisement of Women had appeared in 1851.