ABSTRACT
The On Liberty problem, formulated by John Stuart Mill is not the philosophical problem of freedom of the will, but that of civil or social liberty. It is the problem concerning the nature and limits of the power that can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual. This is an ancient problem, but one that, Mill believes, in the state of society of the England of his day, assumes a different form under new conditions. It requires, therefore, a different and, in Mill's view, more fundamental treatment. The problem concerns the abuses of democratic government itself, in particular the abuse by majorities of their power over minorities. Mill's grounds for his idea of public reason are different, of course, but hardly antithetical. His principle of liberty along with his principles of moral right and justice, and the other principles of the modern world, are all principles subordinate to the supreme principle of utility.
