Introduction to Political Theory

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1
Stephen, J.F. (1873, 1993) Liberty, Equality, FraternityIndianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.
Van de Veer, D. (1986) Paternalistic Intervention: The Moral Bounds of Benevolence
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Wolfenden, J. (1957) Report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution
London: HMSO.

Further reading


Apart from Mill’s On Liberty, the best starting points for a further exploration of freedom
are Tim Gray, Freedom(London: Macmillan, 1991), George Brenkert, Political Freedom
(London: Routledge, 1991), David Miller (ed.) Liberty(Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1991), which is a collection of important essays on freedom, and Alan Ryan (ed.) The Idea
of Freedom(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), again a collection of essays. Also useful,
but arguing a line, is Richard Flathman, The Philosophy and Politics of Freedom(Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987). Matthew Kramer, The Quality of Freedom(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003), is far from introductory, but is interesting, especially as he
stresses the measurability of freedom. Two books that explore ‘autonomy’, which is a concept
cognate to freedom, are: Richard Lindley, Autonomy(Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1986) and
Robert Young, Personal Autonomy: Beyond Negative and Positive Liberty(London: Croom
Helm, 1985). Specifically on Mill, the following works are useful: John Gray, Mill on Liberty:
A Defence(London: Routledge, 1996); Gerald Dworkin (ed.) Mill’s On Liberty: Critical
Essays(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997); C.L. Ten, Mill on Liberty(Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1980); Nigel Warburton, Freedom: An Introduction with Readings(London:
Routledge, 2001). See also John Skorupski, John Stuart Mill(London: Routledge, 1989), and
relevant essays in John Skorupski (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Mill(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Weblinks


See the Companion Website for further resources.

Note


1 The liberal position is to permit the sale and viewing of (some forms of) pornography but
restrict who can buy or view it. A phrase used in English Law is ‘the tendency to corrupt
and deprave’. It is implied that those consumers who could not be further harmed by
such consumption should be free to consume, so long as they do not ‘corrupt and deprave’
other people. Put crudely, they are already sufficiently depraved, such that exposure to
potentially depraving materials has no additional effect! This is one of the arguments
underlying film and video classification as well as the ‘blanking out’ of the fronts of sex
shops.

Chapter 2 Freedom 53
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