The essay is about the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.
Tyranny of the majority. Protection against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling. There should be a limit to the legit interference of collective opinion with individual independence.
The question is how to find the limit.
The principle of the essay: the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
Notice that the above principle is meant to apply only to human beings in the maturity of their abilities. As for children, they must be protected against their own actions as well as against external injury. Liberty, as a principle, has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion.
Three basic liberties:
(1) liberty of conscience, thought and feeling;expressing and publishing opinions.
(2) liberty of tastes and pursuits
(3) liberty of combination among individuals (persons combined are full age, and not forced or deceived)
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
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