Defending Liberty against ‘On Liberty’

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Gertrude Himmelfarb Knopf, 345 pp., $8.95 As a consequence of the revival of ideology and the renewal of interest in political theory, an intense and important debate on the nature and scope of the triad of revolutionary principles—liberty, equality, and fraternity—is taking place.

True, not much can be, or has been, done with “fraternity.” Walt Whitman defended it in the best and most attractive fashion, though it is a truism that great poetry does not necessarily make good politics. When “fraternity” is given a light twist and shift, it becomes “community” and turns into a principle, not of revolution, but of conservation.

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Stephen J. Tonsor

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On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Gertrude Himmelfarb Knopf, 345 pp., $8.95 As a consequence of the revival of ideology and the renewal of interest in political theory, an intense and important debate on the nature and scope of the triad of revolutionary principles—liberty, equality, and fraternity—is taking place.

True, not much can be, or has been, done with “fraternity.” Walt Whitman defended it in the best and most attractive fashion, though it is a truism that great poetry does not necessarily make good politics. When “fraternity” is given a light twist and shift, it becomes “community” and turns into a principle, not of revolution, but of conservation.