On Liberty (1859) identified John Stuart Mill’s views on defence of liberty and limited government. Mill asserts that ‘nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised over the individual.’ To encounter individual rights, what if the individual liberties of two people are getting conflict with each other?

Mill states liberalism concerns about ‘harm principle’ which ‘the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.’ If the individual action does not directly harm other’s interests, the behaviour should not be interfered in spite of the refusal from general public. Harm is classified as ‘self-regarding’ and ‘other-regarding’ in which the authority can interfere with the latter. ‘Self-regarding’ is defined as harms only concerns personally, his independence of right, in which should not be prohibited under the major premise – being unaffected to any individual else. However, Mill argues that society has the responsibility of warming others to prevent an individual potential danger as other’s interests are going to be infringed . It presents the thought of ‘other-regarding’. Additionally, other-regarding is composed of ‘hurt’ and ‘harm’ among which ‘physical pain (a hurt) does not constitute a harm unless it also entails a setback to an interest.’

According to the excerpt, Mill declares ‘over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign’ , holding a strong belief that personal freedom is essential under liberalism. Mill further describes that the important regulation of liberty includes utilitarianism, free market and freedom of speech. These elements foster liberty of individuality in three different perspectives: the society, the government, and the individual.

To begin with, utilitarianism, as known as ‘the greatest happiness principle’ refers to human flourishing which people need to discover what makes them happy. Mill defines ‘being preference felt by those who in their opportunities of experience, to which must be added their habits of self-consciousness and self-observation, are best furnished with the means of comparison.’

Free market is another vital ingredient for liberty. Adam Smith’s work influences Mill’s thinking on the flied of ‘free market’ to a large extent. The idea of ‘laissez faire’ policy indicates ‘individual ownership often go on to further conflate “not performed by government” with “performed by individual owners on competitive market”’ , in another words the power of government is limited. Here Mill presents the sense of economic liberty.

Last but not least, the defence of free speech is stated in On Liberty that any single view should not be ignored. Mill emphasizes ‘there must be discussion, to show how experience is to be interpreted. Wrong opinions and practices gradually yield to fact and argument: but facts and arguments, to produce any effect on the mind, must be brought before it.’ Minority opinions cannot be disregarded as each opinion has worth and should be respected, Mill adds. It would be interpreted free of speech as one of the most vigorous regulation of individual liberty.

In order to discuss the application of Mill’s ideas, Hong Kong will be a significant example to explain how liberty works in reality. Hong Kong places importance on free of speech under the Basic Law which protects personal rights and freedoms. People are permitted to express their opinions on various issues, including the performance of the government, through a wide range of ways such as holding a parade. As long as not raising a disturbance in the society, the action would have never been forbid. In addition, the mass media has responsibility of reporting facts to public because journalists have the freedom to report anything by using a legal method while as the public has the rights to know the truths. Nevertheless, the concern about individual privacy has been arisen under the ‘over- unrestrained’ environment. As mentioned in the introduction, what if the individual liberty interferes with somebody else? If the answer is based on liberty, it is ambiguous that both sides can enjoy the individual freedom and thus nobody should be intruded. However, it will have a conflict with harm principle which one side’s interest is damaged. The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data suggests that balancing free speech and privacy is necessary in Hong Kong . Privacy and freedom of speech are contrastive ‘core values’ in Hong Kong which is difficult to abandon either one of them to entirely adopt another one. Therefore, the government should ensure that the concept of free speech will not be affected while personal information and data should be protected.

In conclusion, Mill’s ideas are forward-looking as they are applicable in the society nowadays. The national value in most of the developing countries and more developed countries is to run the state under the consent from public and thus the sense of liberal democracy is maintained. Therefore, limited government is undoubtedly a foundation of liberalism. Furthermore, individual liberty should be encouraged to nourish under the liberal democracy as it is believed that the more the voices, the better the environment would be built.

Bibliography:
• DeMarco, J., A Coherence Theory in Ethics, (Rodopi)
• Mill, J., Excerpt
• Mill, J., On Liberty (John W. Parker and son, 1859)
• Mill, J., Principles of Political Economy: And Chapters on Socialism (Oxford University Press, 1998)
• Mill, J., Utilitarianism (Longman, 1864)
• South China Morning Post, Hong Kong needs to balance free speech and privacy (2013)
[Online access] access on 8 Nov 2013