One of James Mill's contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica was an article on the liberty of the press. Mill sought to mark out legitimate grounds to punish speech while defending broad freedom of discussion as an indispensable security against oppression and the surest method for discovering the truth. In summary, Mill thought that libel against … Continue reading James Mill on Liberty of the Press →

Jeremy Bentham is well known today as a moral philosopher; but his political thought, and the thought of those British radicals who considered him a teacher and inspiration, has been largely forgotten. This I consider to be unfortunate, not only because Benthamite radicalism is an enviable model of logic and clarity compared to other political … Continue reading Bentham on Democracy and Reform →