These essays are central to the liberal tradition, but their interpretation and how we should understand their connection with each other are both contentious.

They have formed the basis for many of the political institutions of the West since the late nineteenth century, tackling as they do the appropriate grounds for protecting individual liberty, the basic principles of ethics, the benefits and the costs of representative institutions, and the central importance of gender equality in society. Mill's four essays, 'On Liberty', 'Utilitarianism', 'Considerations on Representative Government', and 'The Subjection of Women' examine the most central issues that face liberal democratic regimes - whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first. Mill believed women are not inferior by nature.'it is only the cultivation of individuality which produces, or can produce, well developed human beings' In keeping with his views on liberty, Mill held radical views on women for his time he believed in educational, political (voting), and marital equality for women. However, Mill’s argument that liberty must never be sacrificed for expediency has been subject to debate in the United States since 9/11/01. Mill’s ideas have been incorporated into the laws of the United States and many people who live here subscribe to his ideas the United States has some of the most permissive laws ensuring the freedom of speech of all liberal, free democracies. Justice is a higher principle than the law. Mill also drew a distinction between legality and justice what is just is not always written in law, and what is written in law is not always just. Humans are capable of higher forms of happiness, and therefore utility must be judged by taking into account quantitative amounts as well as qualitative differences in forms of happiness.

Perhaps most influentially, Mill states that there are not only different quantities of happiness but also qualitative differences in happiness. John Stuart Mill made important and influential amendments to Bentham’s ideas of utilitarianism. Lecture 8 in Yale Open Courses course SOCY 151: Foundations of Modern Social Theory. 'Mill: Utilitarianism and Liberty,' lecture delivered at Yale University, Fall, 2009.

On liberty utilitarianism