Chicago, Athens, and Jerusalem

Today, May 20, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Stuart Mill. I’m sure that I don’t need to extol the greatness of Mill to this audience, but we should all take the opportunity to learn more about the philosophical inspiration for Mankind Minus One [the now-defunct group blog to which I previously contributed].

In honor of the occasion, Catallarchy has a series of essays on Mill. Roger Scruton, willfully disregarding the history of economic and political thought, attacks Mill in this op-ed, as he believes that Mill’s defense of minority rights and opposition to senseless traditions paved the way for the greatest excess of the sham “liberalism” of the Twentieth Century. Andrew Sullivan offers a terse and insightful response here. Finally, at the Library of Economics and Liberty, Professors David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart have written essays discussing the leading role of Mill and other classical economists in the British antislavery and anti-racism movements.