The Principles of State Interference; Four Essays on the Political Philosophy of Mr. Herbert Spencer, J. S. Mill, and T. H. Green Volume 28

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 edition. Excerpt: ... PREFACE. THE first three essays in this volume were published five years ago in Time, and are mainly occupied with a criticism of Mr. Herbert Spencer's The Man versus the State and of certain parts of J. S. Mill's Liberty. The fourth essay appeared in the Contemporary Review for June, 18S7. The questions discussed have certainly not declined in importance since these dates. The first three essays have, in parts, undergone considerable alteration. But I have retained the original form and manner of treatment, in the belief that a short and controversial examination of two very well known books may, for many purposes, be more profitable than an elaborate and systematic treatise, for which in any case I have not found the leisure. Something may still be said for using the "dialectical" rather than the "apodcictic" method in political philosophy. And what appears negative criticism does not necessarily give a negative result, least of all when it is criticism of negative criticism. The fourth essay enables me to approach my conclusions in a different manner from that followed in the other three. I have added an Appendix dealing with three questions that seemed to require rather fuller treatment than was possible in footnotes. January, 1891. i. Introductory. R. SPENCER'S little book, The Man versus the State, is the most conspicuous work of recent years in defence of "individualism" and in opposition to the growing tendency of State intervention in matters which the older English economists and Radical politicians held to be best left to private enterprise and unchecked competition. From its very nature it demands and challenges critical examination. Mr. Spencer's conception of what the State is appears to me to involve grave...