Vraagt onze samenleving om een nieuwe politieke formule, om met Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) te spreken? Op het eerste gezicht niet. De democratie is stevig verankerd in de Grondwet en verdragen en is ingebed in de rechtsstaat, en zowel democratie als rechtsstaat maken deel uit van ons collectieve bewustzijn. Toch is er wat aan de hand in de verhouding tussen overheid, samenleving en individu, zoals de inmiddels structurele onvrede met het publieke domein laat zien. Dat vraagt om een richtinggevende doordenking (...) van de vooronderstellingen van ons democratisch bestel en de fundamenten waarop het berust. Dat is wat dit boek zich ten doel stelt. Het biedt toekomstgerichte ideeën voor ons publieke domein aan de hand van kernbegrippen als legitimiteit, staat, politiek, instituties, identiteit, burgerschap, kerk en theologie. Het gedachtegoed van Tocqueville, die geldt als een van de grootste en meest interessante denkers over de moderne democratie, de democratische samenleving en de democratische mens, vormt daarvoor de inspiratiebron. (shrink)

In the essay On Liberty , Mill put forward his famous principle that society may only interfere with those actions of an individual which concern others and not with actions which merely concern himself. The validity of this principle depends on there being a distinction between self-regarding and other-regarding actions. But the concept of self-regarding actions has been severely criticised on the ground that all actions affect others in some way and are therefore other-regarding. The notion of self-regarding actions appears (...) to be completely discredited. Very recently, however, there has been some dissatisfaction with the traditional debunking of Mill on this score. Two serious and important attempts to reinterpret the principle were made by Mr J. C. Rees in an article entitled ‘A Re-Reading of Mill on Liberty’, and by Mr Alan Ryan in two brief but extremely useful contributions. My aim is to discuss these reinterpretations of Mill, and on the basis of this, build up what I think is the correct account of Mill's notion of self-regarding actions. (shrink)

This detailed and sympathetic, but not uncritical, study of On Liberty' argues for the general consistency and coherence of Mill's defence of individual liberty, but maintains that there are significant non-utilitarian elements in his arguments.

One dark and rainy night, Yuso sexually assaults and tortures Zelan. In escaping from the scene of his crime, he falls heavily and becomes an impotent paraplegic. Instead of treating his fate as divine retribution for his wicked acts, Yuso sees it as sheer bad luck. He shows no remorse for what he has done, and vainly hopes that he will recover his powers, which he now treats as involuntarily hoarded resources to be used on less rainy days. In the (...) presence of others, he pretends that he has turned over a new leaf. He asks for religious and educational books, hoping to make up for his poor education and deprived social background. But he immediately discards them when he is alone in favor of the pornographic magazines which he has bribed a nurse to smuggle in for him. His deception and various obscene acts committed in the hospital are exposed; by the time he comes up for trial, everyone knows that he is still a lustful, sadistic, and unrepentant man. Most retributivists have a sufficient justification for punishing Yuso independently of the social consequences of his punishment. Two features of the case might cause some difficulties. First, Yuso has already experienced considerable suffering and deprivation both before and after his crime, and retributivists might disagree about the relevance of the suffering to his punishment. Secondly, Yuso is unrepentant, and it is unlikely that punishment will change him. This might, as we shall see, create a problem for those who think that the justifying aim of punishment is the moral reform of the offender. (shrink)

John Braithwaite and Philip Pettit, Not Just Deserts: A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice, Oxford Clarendon Press, 1990, vii + 229 pp.

John Stuart Mill's essay On Liberty, published in 1859, has had a powerful impact on philosophical and political debates ever since its first appearance. This volume of essays covers the whole range of problems raised in and by the essay, including the concept of liberty, the toleration of diversity, freedom of expression, the value of allowing 'experiments in living', the basis of individual liberty, multiculturalism and the claims of minority cultural groups. Mill's views have been fiercely contested, and they are (...) at the centre of many contemporary debates. The essays are by leading scholars, who systematically and eloquently explore Mill's views from various perspectives. The volume will appeal to a wide range of readers including those interested in political philosophy and the history of ideas. (shrink)

Sher's notion of deserved punishment has unacceptable implications. It does not justify punishing some serious wrongdoers, who are unwilling to commit lesser wrongs, more severely than minor offenders. It requires victim-inflicted punishments which repeat the wrongdoings, with the roles reversed. But if Sher moves away from such victim-inflicted punishments, then his theory should treat wrongdoers like tort-feasors who have to pay monetary compensations to their victims.

Artificial grammar learning (AGL) is used to study how human adults, infants, animals or machines learn various sorts of rules defined over sounds or visual items. Ten Cate et al. introduce the topic and provide a critical synthesis of this important interdisciplinary area of research. They identify the questions that remain open and the challenges that lie ahead, and argue that the limits of human, animal and machine learning abilities have yet to be found.

Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law are related ideas about how the powers of government and of state officials are to be limited. The two ideas are sometimes equated. But constitutionalism, generally understood, usually refers to various constitutional devices and procedures, such as the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, the independence of the judiciary, due process or fair hearings for those charged with criminal offences, and respect for individual rights, which are partly constitutive of (...) a liberal democratic system of government. The Rule of Law, on the other hand, embodies certain standards that define the characteristic virtues of a legal system as such. (shrink)

John Stuart Mill strongly supports capital punishment for aggravated murder. He rejects various arguments against capital punishment, including the claim that it is incompatible with respect for hu...

Recently a child’s right to a father was invoked to justify the prevention of single women from obtaining access to IVF. This article explores the conceptual and normative issues about the nature of the right and its conflict with a woman’s right to procreative autonomy. The discussion relates the conceptual issues to those raised in the context of ‘wrongful life’ tort cases. It concludes that the right to be born with a father, although conceptually sound, does not justify the restriction (...) on the procreative right of single women. (shrink)

An analysis of the moral, political and legal philosophy of Mill. It is part of the International Library of Critical Essays in the History of Philosophy series, which makes available, in a systematic manner, essays in the history of philosophy.

Mill was a progressive thinker whose views on gender and race were well in advance of his times. But although he rejected both the natural or innate superiority of men over women and of whites over blacks, and attributed their differences to their different circumstances, his proposals for social and political changes seem be contrast sharply in the two cases. He argued for “perfect equality” between men and women, including the extension of the suffrage to women and the elimination of (...) the near absolute power of husbands over their wives. On the other hand, Mill justified British imperial rule in India, maintaining that despotism was an appropriate form of government for “barbarians”, provided it was the most effective means of raising them to a higher stage of development where they were capable of ruling themselves. This chapter discusses the complexities of Mill's views on gender and race. (shrink)

The Nineteenth Century provides a broad, scholarly introduction to nineteenth-century philosophy. It also contains a glossary of philosophical terms and a chronological table of philosophical and cultural events.

The Nineteenth Century provides a broad, scholarly introduction to nineteenth-century philosophy. It also contains a glossary of philosophical terms and a chronological table of philosophical and cultural events.