Mill and paternalism

"Many discussions of J.S. Mill's concept of liberty focus too narrowly on On Liberty and fail to acknowledge that his treatment of related issues elsewhere may modify its leading doctrines. Mill and Paternalism demonstrates how a contextual reading suggests that in Principles of Political Economy, and also his writings on Ireland, India and on domestic issues like land reform, Mill proposed a substantially more interventionist account of the state than On Liberty seems to imply. This helps to explain Mill's sympathies for socialism after 1848, as well as his Malthusianism and feminism, which, in conjunction with Harriet Taylor's views, are central to his later discussions of the family and marriage. Feminism, indeed, is shown to provide the answer to the problem which most agitated Mill, overpopulation. Thus Gregory Claeys sheds new lights on many of Mill's overarching preoccupations, including the theory of liberty at the heart of On Liberty"--

Acknowledgements; Introduction Mill, liberty and paternalism: context, intention and interpretation; Mill, liberty and paternalism; Negative liberty and ideal character; The value, rights and duties of interference: the role of On Liberty; Models of authority: Bentham, Malthus, Carlyle, the Saint-Simonians and Comte; Evidence of authority: 'henpecked' restated; Self-dependence: the critique of blind paternalism; Conclusion; Chapter 1 Intervention, progress and the state -- domestic and foreign; Mill and domestic reform; The scope of government; Taxation and inheritance; Poor relief.

Franchise regulationsEducation; Miscellaneous issues respecting state intervention; Foreign intervention: India and Ireland; India: 'parental despotism'; Ireland and land reform; Conclusion; Chapter 2 Mill, socialism and collective autonomy; Owenism and Saint-Simonism: from the mid 1820s to c. 1840; From 'Coleridge' (1840) to 'The Claims of Labour' (1845); 1848; Land, cooperation and the 'Chapters on Socialism', 1852-73; The 'Chapters on Socialism' and the limits of Mills socialism; Conclusion: red in context?; Chapter 3 Rethinking On Liberty: superstition, expediency and family values.

Introduction:…