ABSTRACT
Among the early responses to John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty was James Fitzjames Stephen’s 1872 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Stephen said Mill’s principle of utility actually justifies the wide use of state action to promote utility. Mill’s account of the rights of the individual in both On Liberty and later essays came under attack from mainstream politicians and more philosophically minded intellectuals. Early criticisms of On Liberty fell into three categories. First, there were those who disliked the political radicalism of Mill’s defense of individual liberty against state power and social opinion. Second, some thinkers took issue with Mill over utilitarianism as a social theory. And third, Mill was accused of elitism in his individualist view of society where the cultured lead the way to superior lifestyles and ideas. On Liberty was seen by some as anti-Christian for its attack on the role of religious dogma in stifling individual thought.
