Week 1 Lecture 1 - On Liberty

The first lecture back for 'History and Context', I think, went pretty good - it was actually really interesting and I have to say I enjoyed listening to it!
Here are the notes that I took in the lecture:

John Wilkes - press freedom
Mary Wollstonecraft - female freedom
John Stuart Mill - political ideal

John Wilkes.
He was a charming man despite his unfortunate looks, so much that he had numerous affairs and flings with women.
He wrote 'An Essay on Women' which has been called one of the dirtiest poems in the history of the English language!
He led a very colourful life indulging in the pleasures of women, bribing his way into Parliament, getting into jail, being exiled, being a part of the Hell Fire club and even becoming Mayor of London.
He was criticized by the higher classes and loved by the poor for his scandalous nature, the lower classes in particular liked him because he fought for the down trodden.
The United States also took a liking to Wilkes as he provided an example of how to agitate within the system.
He began the newspaper 'The North Briton' which was used as propaganda, with attacks on the Government along with scandal, rumours and insults. He described the secretary of state as "...a weak, passionate and insolent secretary of state".
People in the Government did not like the paper as it spoke often about them, criticizing and spreading rumours - so they planned to arrest Wilkes. The only problem was that the North Briton was written anonymously (even though everyone knew that Wilkes) so there was nothing anyone could do as there was not enough evidence pointing and Wilkes.
There were attempts to assassinate him, buy him out and even law suits against him but Wilkes enjoyed the controversy so began to print a new paper every week, issue 45 became the most famous and scandalous as he described King George III as a liar claiming that he'd turned to prostitution.
A General Warrant was used against Wilkes, this meant that the police could name the crime and throw anyone in prison who they suspected, so Wilkes was arrested along with 49 other people.
Wilkes sued the Government for invasion of privacy and he won the right to have privacy.
Later on his poem 'An Essay on Women' was read aloud by Lord Sandwich and he was charged with obscenity, he fled to France for several years until he returned and was arrested on his arrival back into the country.
Within prison he won back his seat in Parliament, became a counsellor and then worked his way up to be Mayor of London.
He decided to report on the Parliament (which at the time was illegal) which of course caused a lot of trouble but by doing this he made it possible for ordinary people to judge.

Mary Wollstonecraft.
She had a difficult early life, coming from a middle class family her father wanted to own some land to 'big up' his status within society; this failed and their social standing was declined sending them into working class. Her father began to drink a lot and became violent, she tried to protect her mother but at the same time she was also angry because she felt her mother didn't try hard enough to stand up for herself.
She was forced to work as a governess which made her deeply unhappy so she began to read a lot, to her education was the most important thing any woman (person) could have.
She agreed with Locke in that when we are born our minds are a blank slate; we learn as we grow. She believed that by having a good education you can give yourself the life you want, to be able to access freedom. Although she thought that the education that women received was superficial and holding them back.
She was fascinated with Rousseau - and the beginning of the French Revolution - as this was a time about equality and freedom.
She did not understand why the passing of wealth was only through the male family members, she didn't understand why it couldn't go on equality or who was more capable to do the job.
The Vindication of the Rights of Women could be taken as Wollstonecraft showing a mirror image to the female society - 'do you not see the madness?'. Her answer to this was education.
She believed that when in a relationship women play their role as with men, but when single and independent gender should not be an issue or divide society the way it does.
Later on in her life she had a failed affair with a man called Imlay, they had a daughter together but he left her which caused her to attempt suicide twice.
She later married Goodwin which whom she had another daughter but shortly after childbirth Wilkes died. Her husband wrote a very frank memoir after she had died, revealing everything about her life - the affairs, the suicide attempts along with everything else.
After this her reputation was ruined and until the Suffragettes brought her back into the spot light she was almost forgotten about.
People questioned whether she was the 'champion of feminism we had all thought?'.

John Stuart Mill.
He had a very strange up bringing and education, his God father was Jeremy Bentham and his father James Mill.
By the age of 3 he was reading Greek, learning English and understanding Latin - he was most likely one of the most intelligent people in Europe by the age of 16. The only problem was that Bentham and Mill only taught him what they thought was useful, so at the age of 20 he had a nervous breakdown. He only understood and knew one side of life.
He began to read from the poet William Wordsworth and this is what brought him back to reality.
He believed that freedom of speech was an absolute - "all silencing of opinion is an assumption of infallibility".
A modern example is from the doctor Andrew Wakefield who reviled that the MMR vaccine could give children autism. He was largely criticized for giving his opinion because it caused a lot of upset when in actual fact we can't prove that his theory is wrong. This is why Mill believed in freedom of speech as an absolute - to have personal freedom.
'Experiments in living' - having your own freedom as long as no one is harmed. As a society, being able to live freely gives people the choice to see how other people live and perhaps follow suit.
A self regarding action is something which only harms yourself for example taking drugs, it only becomes wrong if you have a family to support or it harms others (the family).

Liberty.
Laissez Faire - free trade.
Freedom over equality.
Equality of opportunity.
Educating people was very important, this was how we gained rewards
Religion and morality are private matters.
Personal freedom - people can live how they want in different ways - Pluralism.

Utilitarianism.
Bentham's ideas, carried on by John Stuart Mill.
It's the idea of 'the greatest good for the greatest number'.
Eudaimonia - all about happiness and avoiding pain.
Mill created a way of measuring happiness, there were higher and lower pleasures for example a higher pleasure would be going to the theatre whereas a lower pleasure would be sex/drugs.
Hedonism.