Stuart Mill and John Locke Conception of Freedom Essay

Introduction John Locke (1632-1704) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) are two important thinkers of liberty in modern political thought. They have revolutionized the idea of human freedom at their time and have influenced many political thinkers afterwards. Although their important book on human freedom, John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government (1689) and John Mill’s On Liberty (1859), are separated 170 years, some scholars thinks that they are belonging to the same conceptual tradition, English Liberalism. In this essay, I will elaborate John Locke and John Stuart Mill view on human freedom and try to find the difference between their concept of human freedom despite their similar liberal tradition background. Historical Context†¦show more content†¦Locke critisized this unequal distribution of possesions and ownership. He briefly summarizes this view by saying that: â€Å"...how any one should ever come to have a property in anything: I will not content myself to answer, that if it be difficult to make out property, upon a supposition that God gave the world to Adam, and his posterity in common, it is impossible that any man, but one universal monarch, should have any property upon a supposition, that God gave the world to Adam, and his heirs in succession, exclusive of all the rest of his posterity.† If people other than the feudal lords were capable of owning the land they worked, the Aristocracy would lose it means of control. Locke stated that â€Å"whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby make it his property.† The peasant deserve the land of his labor. Working a field is what made the field owned, not some privilege from Scripture. Mill lived from 1806 to 1873, the period of drastic social change and industrial revolution in England. Britain’s society mostly live in a town because of the industrialization. People are moving from the rural area to the big city. Social condition in Mill’s era was different from Locke’s era, because at Mill’s time the Aristocracy began to fall. At that time, England experienced big change because the traditional Aristocracy that ownShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke And John Stuart Mill s On Liberty Essay1748 Words   |  7 PagesPolitical philosophers over time have developed their own conceptions of liberty and the relationship of individuals to not only society, but also the state. Political philosophers such as, Aristotle and Plato have more of an ancient conception of liberty and the role the individual plays in society and to the state. 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