 On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill.
At the beginning of this book, in 1859, John Stuart Mill credits his wife Harriet as "in part the author." 167 years later, a new edition finally lists both of them as authors. This work of philosophy considers what liberty is, and when and how it may or may not be restricted. The general view is that people should do as they wish as long as it harms no one, or harms only oneself. The example most often used in the book is drunkenness: while it's bad for the drunkard, that's not a reason to interfere. It may be harmful to society as a bad example, but on the other hand the bad example might motivate others toward temperance. Appropriate times for society to intervene are when the person drinking harms others (eg, by committing assaults) or fails in their duties (eg, a soldier drunk on duty). The argument acknowledges considerable nuance, as the effect on others is rarely all-or-nothing; the same is true for society's ability to intervene. There's also a passionate argument for the importance of individuality, along with a curious claim that "the East," and in particular China, values only conformity. I suspect Harriet wrote the section about the "near despotic power" of husbands over wives, and fathers over children. The argument for equal rights and liberties for women is laid out well. We sometimes forget it's not new. The argument around free speech will be familiar to anyone on social media today: all views must be debated, so that the false ones may be discredited, true ones proven by testing, and partially true ones refined. All this, of course, assumes a good-faith debate where all parties actually care about the truth, and discard false beliefs when they are sufficiently refuted. If only. 52 Book Club Challenge: Two or more authors, one nom de plume. Booklist Queen Challenge: Two authors.
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